


aquasun

by theflyjar



Category: EXO (Band), f(x)
Genre: Age Difference, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Ballet, Anal Sex, Ballet, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Getting Together, Implied Mpreg, Knotting, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Verse, Scent Marking, Scenting, Scents & Smells, Slice of Life, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-09 23:49:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12286818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theflyjar/pseuds/theflyjar
Summary: Yixing had lost all curiosity for mating. And then, Yifan happened.





	aquasun

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #47 - "They call it midlife crisis, and when Yixing argues that in his (admittedly very) late twenties, he's still too young for any midlife crises, they just look at him compassionately. Yifan laughs at being called midlife crises and teases Yixing about being called toyboy because they both know neither is true. There's no denying that the alpha more than 5 years his junior stirs feelings in Yixing he had given up the hope on ever having."
> 
> Thank you to the mods who were so patient with me getting this in, life just got in the way and was a general pain. To the prompter, thank you so much for leaving this prompt, I really I hope you enjoy this - the same with everyone else who reads it. Thank you to anybody who read through this at different stages and aided me in finding the right direction for this.
> 
>  
> 
> In this universe, heats happen once every three months and an alpha can only knot during a heat, or when the couple are marked mates. (The implication being that knotting = trying to procreate)
> 
> Note: Yixing is older than Yifan in this fic.

Yixing had lost all curiosity for mating.

He still had the pull — the urge — to hunt down someone to fill that empty void in his brain. But, the exciting allure of finding a mate had dulled down to nothing but a constant toothache by the time he was twenty-three. Each of his friends had mated, all of them sure they'd found 'the one' out of the billions on the planet. At twenty-eight, Yixing simply didn't think too much of it anymore.

Yixing had lived through mating, albeit vicariously, through them. He had been through the highs of his omega friends being claimed, the drawn out resistance of the alphas he knew as they kept themselves away from scents that made their mouths water. He'd even witnessed the betas closest to him being reaffirmed that they didn't have to be an alpha or omega to find their happiness. And that had been enough for him. He had been content with feeding off the happiness of others. That's what omegas did, they absorbed the emotions and feelings of those around them to fuel their own. Omegas were, for all intents and purposes, empaths.

Yixing knew what everything felt like through the platonic bonds he shared with those closest to him. It made him less inclined to actively seek someone to spend his time with. Instead, he worked. And he excelled. He was happy with himself, with his self-owned apartment, with his mated friends, with his numerous failed dates.

And then, Yifan happened.

Nothing could have prepared Yixing for Yifan. No empathic surge, no words of warning and no experience he'd ever had before. Yifan was nothing short of a meteor shower, bright and thrilling.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

The first time Yixing had seen Yifan, it left him pink faced and flustered. As an extra to his work as a choreographer, Yixing spent three evenings a week teaching children how to dance. Two days were for ballet, the other for hip-hop. He always enjoyed the nights where he would teach the groups of under-twelves, they always made Yixing smile after hours spent with adult dancers that were overloaded with their egos.

There was nothing Yixing disliked more than having a cocky alpha who knew they were good at dancing. They never listened to him, he was nothing more than an omega. Though, he was always sure to assert himself, to better them and push them. They were nothing he hadn't ever met before, as a professional dancer.

So finishing up a ballet class with a cluster of fourteen children was the best way to end his Thursday night. There was a young omega girl, determined and talented, that Yixing spent an extra fifteen minutes with. Yixing knew she would go far with her talent, even at the young age of eight.

"That's it, Qian," he praised. "Stretch your leg out a little more, really extend it and wing your left foot."

The girl copied his instructions, straightening her leg until it was almost completely parallel to the floor, her arms were serenely placed in front of her with her fingers pointed on the bar. It was almost a perfect fifth arabesque. Yixing's body was held in the same way, his left leg out far behind him and his right foot placed firmly on the panelled flooring. His breathing had stilted from holding the position for Qian to copy. They almost mirrored one another. Yixing's heart swelled at the sight.

"Perfect, Qian. Absolutely perfect," Yixing broke his from his statue-esque positioning and clapped. Their eyes met in the reflection ahead of them, and Qian was smiling. Even with one of her lower teeth missing, her grin was blinding.

They held it for a few more seconds before Yixing panted out, "You can relax now. If you keep practising that, you'll find it so much easier when you transition into pointe shoes. Just remember to keep that foot absolu—"

The entrance to the ballet studio opened and Yixing moved to the door, swiftly to place himself between the newcomer and his student. He could smell that it was an alpha, causing his heart rate to pick up until he could feel it against his sternum. Yixing came face to face with the tall alpha, shrinking back a little before straightening his spine as he heard shuffling behind him. The alpha was young, dressed in black jeans, a black shirt and a black denim jacket, and Yixing approached speak directly to him. He smelt just like wood sage and sea salt, far more refreshing than a normal alpha would be.

"Gege," Qian cried out, dashing across the room and straight to the stranger. She did a running jump but the alpha was prepared, he caught her with a rumbling laugh as she nuzzled into his neck, rubbing her child-omega, honey and chamomile, scent on him.

"Hello, Meimei," the alpha greeted back, shifting her around until Qian was sat on his hip.

"Gege, this is my Xing-laoshi," Qian turned her head to look back to Yixing. "The one I told you about."

Yixing smiled awkwardly, licking his dry lips as he bowed slightly to the alpha. "I'm Zhang Yixing, Qian's ballet instructor."

"Wu Yifan," the alpha smiled, Yixing's heart faltering in a beat at the sight of it before thudding on at a calmer pace. "Qian's older brother."

"Gege, I'm hungry," Qian groaned, her slender arms hooking around Yifan's neck. "Can we get jiaozi on the way home?"

"Ah, mama is cooking dinner already," Yifan shook his head and Yixing felt his smile strain on his cheeks. "I don't think she'd be happy with us if we went home with jiaozi."

"Oh, okay," Qian pouted, turning in Yifan's arms to look back at Yixing. "Bye bye Xing-laoshi."

"Bye bye, see you next week," Yixing waved, dimpling at her and flicking his eyes to Yifan. "Lovely to meet you, Mr Wu."

"You, too, Xing-laoshi," he laughed playfully, Yixing's cheeks only grew hotter as the alpha stared at him, walking backwards to leave through the door.

Yixing placed his hands over his cheeks once the pair had left.

He moved across the room to collect up his things, disconnecting his phone from the speakers and tucking it into his pocket before throwing his sports bag over his shoulder. He noted a pale blue cardigan on the floor and picked it up, looking for a name tag and running his fingers over it when he saw _Song Qian_ stitched into the label.

Placing the cardigan into his bag, Yixing left the studio, locking the doors behind him. He sighed when he thought of how silently flustered he'd been around Yifan, how his face fixed in a bright pink and warm state as the alpha smiled at him.

An alpha hadn't made him blush in years.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yixing had never been _‘wooed’_ before. He’d never had someone pursue him, sending him obvious and clear signals that they were interested. Yifan, however, was set on the idea of making Yixing turn pink cheeked and bitten lipped every Tuesday and Thursday. The second time Yifan had picked up Qian, Yixing had handed him the leftover cardigan, he’d smiled so wide that Yixing’s heart dipped. The third, fourth and fifth time Yifan would arrive earlier to linger with the parents, despite the fact Qian’s sessions ended fifteen minutes later than the other students’.

The studio lingered with the scent of unmated alpha, bold and unmistakable amongst the muted essences of the children and their mated parents. Yixing found himself breathing in deeper, holding air in his lungs for longer and not wishing to exhale. Scents were something Yixing rarely paid much heed to, he’d grown accustomed to having them flow under his nose day-in-day-out. He'd been in the world for far too long to feel bothered by the smells of other people, he never would have been able to survive and thrive, had he actively registered them. But Yifan’s, it was something different. Yixing would have labelled it as toxic, had he not begun to crave in their few meetings.

The sixth time they met, Yifan stood with an aster flower in his hand and a wonderfully nervous expression, his earthy, salt laced scent everywhere. With Qian’s fingers wrapped up by his, Yifan offered the budded flower to Yixing.

"I’ve given it to you closed like this, so it’ll last longer," Yifan explained. "I hope it’ll make you think of me."

Yixing had stood, mouth unhinged and fingers taking and holding daintily to the stem, unable to halt the blood from rushing to his cheeks. He felt like he was a teenager again, only just beginning to be affected by betas and alphas whenever they approached him, and his heart struggled to stay calm. His smile was just enough to show his right dimple as Yifan left the studio with his sister.

For the seventh time, it was two asters.

For the eighth, it was three.

For the ninth, four.

For the tenth, five. All ribboned together with a note tied up on it.

 

 _‘I’d like to get to know you. I’d like to know if you’re thinking of me when you see these._ __\- Yifan’_ _

 

Fuelled by a twisted form of excitement, the eleventh class Yifan collected his sister from had Yixing retrieving a yellow zinnia from his bag. His hands trembled as he held out the flower by its stem, a small piece of paper was coiled up above his fingers and Yifan looked at Yixing’s offering with an uncertain frown before taking the flower for himself. He gave Yixing a pale pink ranunculus flower in his bundle of asters.

The note that Yixing had attached to the zinnia had only eleven numbers penned onto it, accompanied by his name. It was a tentative step that he grew surer of as time slid by. Especially when his phone vibrated, displaying a phone number that hadn’t been saved into his contact book. Yixing left the studio, when the lights were off and Yifan’s scent had almost faded completely from the atmosphere, feeling a little bolder than he had before.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yixing had known from the moment he’d first seen, maybe even smelt, Yifan that he was younger than him. By how much, Yixing hadn’t quite been able to put his finger on. So when they had organised to meet, Yixing had bitten his lip almost raw as he waited for Yifan outside of a quiet coffee shop near the dance studio.

They’d begun their conversation on the common ground they knew they had, Qian. Yixing spoke avidly of her dancing, how she’d grown since she’d begun and how Yixing loved working with her. Yifan had chipped in about how his sister would dance in front of the television from the moment she worked out what dancing was. Yifan spoke fondly of her, a smile on his lips and his hands moving excitably, whenever he wasn’t holding his coffee cup.

"With the thirteen year age-gap that’s between us and the fact she’s an omega, I guess it was always easy to feel protective," Yifan had noted, Yixing’s fingers tightening on his mug. Yifan was twenty one. And Yixing hadn’t been twenty one for eight years. Maybe he hadn’t hidden it well, but Yifan picked up on the sudden uneasiness from Yixing. He frowned. "Is there something wrong?"

Yixing let his eyes fall down to the table, his fingers toying with the empty sachet of sugar Yifan had poured into his Americano. Yixing didn’t want to lose the feeling of anticipation that came paired with seeing or talking to Yifan. Yet, he knew that bringing his age could be a deal-breaker.

Why would a young, charming and brilliantly handsome alpha want anything but an equally young, charming and attractive partner? It was easier, Yixing decided, to be honest about it. The sooner the band-aid was torn off, the faster the sting would fade.

"It’s just, you’re so young. And well," Yixing shrugged, "I’m not."

Yifan quietened, retreating a little in his seat, "Is that a problem for you? My age? Because I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I will get older as time goes by. I won’t always be twenty one."

"But you’ll always be eight years younger than me, Yifan," Yixing placed the sachet down on the table in favour of rubbing his face with his palms.

"You’re twenty nine?" Yixing’s eyes flicked up to Yifan, taking in his shocked expression and nodding somewhat solemnly. "I thought you were, like, twenty five, at most…"

Yixing could sense the grip he had on the excitement he had around Yifan loosening, he drew his arms back in towards himself and held his hands on his lap. His head was bowed down, no longer able to look at Yifan and he didn’t like the feeling that had settled itself in his stomach. Yixing had, for a few years, adjusted himself to the idea that he would go through the rest of his life without a mate at his side. But, it hurt. With a blunt ache. It was the first time in so long that Yixing had been  _interested_ in someone. Even longer since that interest had been returned.

Yifan’s hand reached out across the table, his fingers hooking under Yixing’s chin to have him look up so their eyes met across the table. "I can’t believe someone as handsome as you hasn’t been claimed yet. It almost feels criminal that you’re unmated, Yixing."

Face hot with blood, Yixing blinked, unable to shy away from Yifan’s gaze and incapable of doing anything other than stare right back. His breathing had halted itself before his lips parted, allowing short puffs to leave his mouth. Yifan caressed his thumb against Yixing's chin, catching his lower lip on the way around and tugging it down slightly.

Yixing couldn't help it, he knew the scent of his bashful delight would surround him and he silently berated himself as he saw Yifan's nose twitch. It reminded Yixing of his teenage years when he couldn't contain himself, when his emotions used to swim around him for all to read. It had been over ten years since he'd manage to regulate his scent, only ever lapsing — like anybody did — during his heat, so it was embarrassing to lose that control.

Yifan withdrew his fingers and leant forward on his elbows, drawing in deeper breaths as he moved.

"It's okay, Yixing," Yifan hummed. "I still want to get to know you."

"I'd like that," Yixing finally dropped his gaze, capping off the pheromones that had seeped out. "Very much."

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

With most of Yixing's friends busy with their mates or families, texting was never too high on his list of hobbies because, frankly, he didn't have many people to message throughout the day. He rarely even used his phone. Most of the songs he used for his claswere was loaded up onto his iPod. Yixing often left his phone's battery to deplete for days until it was dead, not even realising he'd done as such until he actually needed to use it.

Yifan, Yixing discovered, was certainly a texter.

Yixing woke up a few days after his coffee outing with Yifan to a message on his phone. It was only a short good morning text, one with added smiling emoticon. It took Yixing an hour and a half to respond. Partly because he wasn't entirely sure of texting etiquette anymore. But, mainly, because he'd sat at his kitchen table, staring and smiling at the words on his phone's screen.

Spending time worrying over messaging practices turned out to be pointless, as Yifan's replies almost always flashed on his screen under ten minutes after Yixing had hit the _send_ button. They talked back and forth, Yifan asking about what Yixing was doing at work that day and Yixing attempting to find out anything from Yifan.

He found that Yifan had gone to an elite university, just for alphas, and studied fashion design and development. Yifan said he was an intern at a fashion house in the city, an attempt to establish himself professionally. But something in Yixing's mind told him that Yifan was downplaying his achievements, especially after Yixing had done a quick search of where Yifan said he worked.

Fashion had never been a big concern of Yixing's, he only ever needed to dress in comfortable clothing to work in and a few nicer outfits for when he visited his friends. And, of course, those he would wear when he used to perform. Clothing was purposeful for Yixing, only ever fulfilling a function he would have for them. Yifan, however, seemed to buy clothing for the love of it and for the love of wearing them.

It made Yixing look at his closet in with a frown. Loose fitting sweatpants and jeans, tank tops and only a few button-ups and a single suit. He favoured comfort over all and he hoped Yifan would understand as such, rather than judging his limited wardrobe.

Still, Yixing's phone buzzed with everything Yifan had to tell him. Going to vendors for fabrics, looking after Qian, sketching out designs and going out for dinner with his friends. Yixing recognised the excitement of Yifan being a graduate, he'd seen the same with his friends when they'd finished university. Yixing, however, had joined a company straight from ballet school, throwing himself into dance and taking every opportunity that he could.

Yifan wanted to know it all, from the two years Yixing had spent in Paris, dancing with the Paris Opera Ballet to how Yixing had switched styles of dance in his last year as a professional, much to the pain of his teachers.

Yixing felt flattered, an alpha was trying to get to know him without prying or picking at his choices in life. Yifan was listening to him, not just making Yixing talk at him with the hopes of bedding him.

"Who's got you clinging to your phone like its a lifeline?" Yixing's best friend, Lu Han, asked over a cup of coffee. Yixing could smell the faint scent of curiosity swirling around Lu Han in a hazy stream. "I thought you didn't even know how to turn that thing on?"

"Ah, just a relation to one of my students." It wasn't a lie.

Han didn't look convinced but bit his lip and nodded anyway, not prying too much. They both knew that if Yixing had something serious to share, he would call Han right off the mark.

"How are the classes? You teach three, right?"

"Yeah, they're good." Yixing took a sip of his drink. "A handful at times but it's nice to be settled. To be back."

Yixing had spent a year in Russia before moving back to China, he'd managed to dance with the Bolshoi for a few months before putting away his professional ballet slippers away. He'd planned to go to London, make an attempt at the Royal Ballet, but his heart had strayed too far from ballet to attempt it.

"It's good to have you back," Han smiled. "I missed you when you were off running around the world in tights and contorting your body into impossible positions."

"I'm not a gymnast," Yixing huffed, drawing in more of his iced tea.

"But you can bend like one."

Yixing dismissed his best friend with an eye roll, never taking any jibes made to his chosen career too seriously. "Anyway, I'm enjoying teaching. It's easier to love ballet again when I'm sharing it with people who aren't there to push me to my limit."

"You've turned the scrutiny back on others, haven't you?" Han's eyes turned playful, skirting around the topic of Yixing's professional retirement. "I bet you make those little children cry like your _Madam_ did in Paris."

"I'm not so mean," Yixing shook his head, sighing. "She was just cruel."

"But she made you better."

"She made the Russians look like pussycats," Yixing joked, remembering how hardened he'd grown to the comments of the old prima ballerina in Moscow. He didn't sit in his tiny flat and cry most nights, like he did in Paris. "But yeah, she did."

"It's nice seeing you talk about dancing without that pained expression you had when you first retired. The teaching is good for you, reminds you of why you started in the first place."

Yixing drank the rest of his iced tea quietly, listening to Han talk about his mate and young children, smiling whenever anything made Han laugh. He still had the _mated_ glow, he was an alpha who adored his small family and always wished to pull Yixing into that warmth.

"You'll have to come over for dinner soon," Lu Han offered. "The kids, they want to see their uncle. It’s been weeks since you last came over."

"I’ll work something out," Yixing smiled widely. "Call me when you’re free."

Yixing’s phone vibrated, it was Yifan. He glanced at the message, it was a video of Qian dancing down a street. _"Stop it,"_ she squealed when she caught Yifan filming, Yixing could hear Yifan’s laughter over Qian’s, closer to the microphone. Yixing clicked off the video and looked up only to be met with Han’s gaze.

"Do the parents of your students always send you videos of them?"

"She was dancing," Yixing shrugged, he dropped his gaze and Han laughed. "I like seeing what my students are doing."

Again, Lu Han didn’t look swayed by his excuse but spoke up, "When you want to tell me what’s going on with you, I’ll be here."

Yixing rested his chin on his palm, he nodded a few times and sighed.

"I’ve got to go, I need to do the school run before the roads are jammed," Han stood up from his chair, he pulled on his jacket and Yixing followed suit. "I will call you about that dinner, though. So keep your phone charged, I know what you’re like."

"I keep my cable in my bag now, don’t worry so much."

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yifan guided Yixing through large double doors, the floors were glossed marble and Yifan’s shoes clicked on the shiny surface. Yixing was still dressed in his work clothes, a baggy t-shirt and sweatpants that hanged lowly on his hips, Yifan’s clothes fitted him perfectly.

"I wanted your advice," Yifan said as they enter an elevator. "I don’t know much about dance and everything like that, still, I’m doing this project for Qian’s birthday. It’s _ages_ away but I want to get it right."

When the lift reached its destination, Yifan led them both out and into a large room that was cluttered with fabrics on large tables, mannequins and sketches sat on almost all surfaces. Yifan had taken Yixing to the fashion house he worked at. There were a few people around, they all greeted Yifan and ignored Yixing, as if he wasn’t there. Yixing didn’t mind it so much, he preferred sinking into the background.

"Can you look at this?" Yifan pulled a large sheet of paper that was covered in drawings in graphite. There was one, it had been water coloured and detailed, it was the final design of numerous sketches. It was a pale blue flowing skirt, a tight upper half and delicately penned in shoes. Yixing could recognise a romantic tutu anywhere. However, the one drawn out had the suggestion of fine embroidery, a contrast to the normal plain skirts most ballerinas wore.

"I have this, uh, I don’t know what to call it...I guess it’s a mood board," Yifan wrapped a hand around Yixing’s arm, tugging him over to a cork board that had fabric samples, button ideas, photographs of ballerinas on stage and measurements. They were for a small body, Qian’s. "I don’t know what’ll work best. I have no idea what I’m doing, if I’m honest. I’m so stuck, her birthday is in a month and I’m panicking quite a bit. And, I guessed, if you were teaching ballet then you’d know at least something. More than me, anyway."

Yixing beamed at the sight of Yifan as he rubbed at the back of his beck, gesticulating wildly at the board. Yixing could smell Yifan’s scent more acutely, showing his ever so slight nerves so plainly.

"Okay, so you’ve gone for a neo-classical romantic tutu," Yixing ran his fingers over the photographs of the ballerinas. "If you want a light skirt, one that’ll flow like these skirts do, you’ll want to use tulle. But, if you want something that will fall gracefully, you could use silk."

"Silk?" Yifan queried, he lowered his arms and stared at Yixing.

"Wait," Yixing pulled out his phone and searched the internet for some photos. "You could do something like this, a few layers of tulle with a silk overlay. The silk would handle the weight of the embroidery you’ve got on the design, I think?"

Yifan turned away from where Yixing stood, he rummaged through some rolls of material and drew a few out. He dropped them onto the table before he turned back to Yixing.

"What kind of thickness?"

"Huh?" Yixing frowned.

"The silk, we have different weights." Yifan explained, running his fingers over the fabric and beckoning Yixing over to do the same. "If we go too thin then it’ll pinch with how much embroidery I have planned, right? But then if it’s too heavy then it’ll weigh her down, then the dance won’t be able to flow through her clothing. So, these are all our ‘in-between’ silks."

Yixing ran the materials through his thumb and forefinger, smiling as he did so. It had been so long since he'd touched such silks. He almost missed it, the outfits and costumes. That was the only part of fashion he knew. A longing panged in his heart.

Yixing withdrew his hand turned to Yifan.

"This one," he pointed at the third fabric on the table. "It felt the best to touch, it feels like it'll catch the air without losing body."

"In the pale blue, like I sketched?" Yifan's head tilted to the side, noting down the material name onto a slip of paper. "Or should it be pink?"

"If you want it to be unique to her, I would go with the blue," Yixing hummed after thinking for a few moments. "All of the students wear variations of pink and fleshy tones, it would be wonderful to see her in something different. It would really place her in focus which and, for someone with her talent, is where she should be."

Yifan smiled down at Yixing, lifting a hand to tuck a slightly overgrown tuft of hair behind Yixing's ear. It was enough to have Yixing flush all the way up to the tips of his ears and Yifan pull away as he grinned.

"So this design, do you think she'd like it?" Yifan brought the sketch back towards them, letting Yixing get a closer look at the detail swatch to the side. "I didn't want something too classical, in the European sense, so I thought that maybe having the blossoming sakura with Japanese white-eye birds on them would make for a delicate yet different aesthetic."

"It's really beautiful idea," Yixing reassured the alpha, stepping in to get a closer look at the drawings. "I don't think you realise how wonderful this looks. No opera I've ever performed in had anything as wonderful as this to be worn for it. This is certainly incredible."

"Ah," Yifan shifted nervously on his feet. "Thank you, Yixing."

Yixing stepped back and pushed his gaze back to the cork board. "If you don't make it doing this fashion stuff, you really could go into costume design. There's a whole lot of money in that. The amount companies pay to have their outfits crafted is absolutely incredible, it makes you wonder how they even host shows with those kinds of expenses."

"I'll keep that in mind." Yifan nodded his head. "I'll bring you back here whilst I'm making it. I'm going to need a bit of guidance on design positioning and styling."

"I'd be glad to," Yixing's smile etched itself on his face."

"Thank you for this, Yixing." Yifan's fingers found that strand of hair he’d tucked behind Yixing's ear and rolled it between his fingertips before pulling back.

"It's okay," Yixing nodded. "This was a great second date."

Yifan's eyes widened and he shook his head, which only served to derail Yixing's heart, "This isn't the—Yixing, this is _not_ our second date. I planned for something else to happen after we came here. I only wanted a little advice. This is probably like work for the both of us, right? I don't want our date to feel like working."

"What did you want it to feel like?" Yixing pried, words spoken gently.

"I don't know...special, I guess?" Yifan scratched the back of his neck uneasily.

"Helping you design something for Qian is something I find endearing, Yifan," Yixing bit his lip to withhold his smile. "I'm touched that you considered to bring me here to see this. This _is_ special."

"So, do I cancel the dinner reservation I made?" Yifan's laugh was nervous and breathy as he spoke.

Yixing shook his head. "I won't turn down a food based date. I haven't eaten since lunch, I don’t think."

"Oh," Yifan was back to grinning, his gums on display for Yixing to be in awe of. "The restaurant isn't too far from here, we could walk?"

"That sounds wonderful to me," Yixing stepped back.

Yifan showed the way to leave the design floor and take the elevator down to get out onto the street. Being dinner time, the streets were full of people rushing around to eat with friends and family, and Yifan's hand found itself securely pressed to Yixing's lower back. It was impossible to not feel the heat from Yifan's palm, Yixing's skin felt both scorched and soothed by it. He knew bashfulness was attempting to break its way out into his scent. And he did everything he could to hold it in, not wishing to display to the world just how much of an effect Yifan was having on him with one touch.

"It's just down here," Yifan spoke over the noise of the footsteps thudding around them and Yixing watched Yifan nod towards a street corner. Yixing let himself be ushered through the bustling streets, glad for the cool air to soothe his blush pink face.

The restaurant wasn't one that Yixing was familiar with, it was modern in its appearance but Yixing could pinpoint the smell of  _tangcu paigu_ wafting out through the doors. He nibbled his lip in anticipation, he'd not had ribs since before he'd become a professional ballet danseur and his stomach clenched at the thought of having the deliciously sweet and sour dish in his mouth.

"Excited?" Yifan asked, his short question teased through with mirth. Yixing turned to him in confusion and Yixing only laughed under his breath, nose flaring. "Your scent, it's stronger."

Yixing halted in his tracks, realising that his scent was indeed everywhere and he tried his best to reel it in as they entered the restaurant. Yixing closed his eyes, shame filling him until it singed his ears and the tip of his nose. "This is so embarrassing, I usually have such good grasp on it, I swear."

"It's okay," Yifan reassured him, he touched at Yixing's hair again, soothing him. "It happens every now and then. Don't let what has you on edge make you feel ashamed of how you've reacted, okay?"

Yixing had to bite down, hard, on his tongue.

 _It's you,_ he wanted to say. _It's you that makes my body go haywire._

They stayed just outside of the restaurant until Yixing has managed to calm himself down - he hadn't wanted to walk in with his scent as clear as it had grown. Yifan didn't touch Yixing during that period, Yixing guessed that Yifan must have known it had something to do with him, and kept a polite distance.

However, Yixing had wanted him closer. He had wanted a hand on his lower back or entwined with his own. But, he was well aware that he hadn't been in a position to ask for that. Yixing led them in and Yifan approached the server, he told her that they had a booking under Yifan's name and the beta girl nodded her head. She smiled at Yifan and Yixing could smell that she'd released her scent, albeit purposely, at the sight of the alpha.

Yifan didn't bat an eyelid and turned back to Yixing, that time, with his hand outstretched. Yixing smiled as he took it and he could pick up how the server instantly cut off her sensory flirting. Which was only emphasised when she drew her face into a polite expression.

"Your table is ready," she said through her faked smile. "It's right this way."

Yifan pulled Yixing forward, he laughed as Yixing stumbled over his own feet and Yixing mock glared at him. Their table was in the centre of the main seating area and Yixing made sure to look around him as he slid into his chair. Yifan chuckled as he watched Yixing and it had Yixing looking up at him.

"What?"

"It's just," Yifan rubbed the back of his neck, "I wanted to pull out your chair and all that stuff."

Yixing beamed at him, he chuckled with a hand over his mouth, "You don't need to impress me like that, Yifan."

"I said I wanted this to be special," Yifan huffed as a form of clarification made as he sat himself in his chair. "That was part of it."

"The thought alone means a lot to me, so don't pressure yourself."

Yifan smiled, it wasn't insecure and neither was it confident. It was relief, as if Yifan had worried that Yixing would be disappointed in him and Yixing did all that he could to return it. It comforted him to know that he wasn't the only one who was teetering on the edge of his nerves.

The server handed them menus and Yifan instantly asked for some water to be brought to the table, to which the waitress moved to do instantly. Yixing bit back a smile as he watched her go.

"She definitely finds you interesting," Yixing joked, his tongue poked out between his left upper and lower canines to accent his words. He certainly wanted to tease Yifan.

Yifan blushed, wonderfully pink and bashfully, "Uh, I guess?"

"She's pretty, though," Yixing observed as he turned back to look at her.

"What, do you find her _'interesting'_?" Yifan volleyed right back at Yixing, his eyes focused only on Yixing and his cheeks fired up. "She seems a bit too young for you. Though, maybe you like younger people."

Yixing spluttered, his eyes widened as he met Yifan's gaze across from him. His tone was scandalised as he yelped, "Yifan!"

"You're not the only one who can be playful here," Yifan relaxed and Yixing felt himself mimicking that. "But, anyway, she's not my type."

"Really? Pretty isn't your type?" Yixing leant forward onto his elbows on the table. "I thought pretty was everybody's type."

"I like pretty, a lot." Yifan beckoned Yixing to move closer and met him halfway across the table, "But, don't worry, she's a little too young for my tastes, too."

Yixing gaped as Yifan sank into the backrest of his seat, he chuckled as Yixing drew away from the middle of the table, brows still furrowed and lips still parted. Yixing had no idea how Yifan even managed to say the words he did, it was as if he was bolstered by the kind of confidence only alphas seemed to carry. Instead, Yixing let his mouth move into a small smile as he looked at Yifan, somewhat battling to keep his scent as neutral as he could.

He didn't want everybody around them to know just how much the alpha got under his skin.

"Your water," the server announced, she placed glasses down and poured them water from the jug she'd brought over. "Are you ready to order?"

"Sorry," Yifan turned to look up at her. He smiled and Yixing's heart went into shock, even though he hadn't even been the one receiving it. "We haven't even managed to look at the menus yet."

The girl flustered, her scent seeped out and Yixing made sure to look elsewhere. He knew exactly how embarrassed the server would be, given that Yixing could almost taste the unmistakable tangs of bewilderment and anxiousness in the air. Yifan, however, hardly flinched as the girl bungled her search for a response.

Yixing did a deep inhale. Blinking a few times, he released a calming wave of pheromones in her direction. The server turned to him, she focused on Yixing's eyes as he led her through breathing evenly. She subconsciously followed him and smiled when realised that she had managed to get herself under control. Yixing, his tone softened, spoke to her, "We'll only be a few more minutes."

The girl bowed her head to Yixing and made her way to another table. Yifan leant on the table, awestruck with a smile that would have spun the server into another frenzy. Yixing was barely holding on by a tether himself.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Yifan's head tilted.

Yixing shifted in his seat and hummed, he considered the question before he licked his lips to begin. "My parents are both alphas, they had no idea about omegas, other than what they'd been taught in school. I used to go to these classes until I was eighteen where I'd be taught, and led, through things that my parents couldn't help me with. One of the omegas, who was my main worker, taught me how to take up an empathic role.

"Given that my parents are both alphas, I'm a rather dominant omega, compared to those who had one, or both, parents as betas or omegas. It means I can lead people through emotions and feelings, using my scent and eye contact."

"That's incredible," Yifan grinned in wonderment. "How did you get to be an omega, if both of your parents are alphas?"

"Oh, I have one omega grandparent on each side. So they carry the gene for omegas, even if it's recessive," Yixing explained, suddenly fumbling with the chopsticks that had been laid out for them.

"My parents were both alphas, too." Yifan grimaced slightly. "My grandparents on either side are alphas, so it was always sort of a given that I'd probably be one, too. That any child of theirs would be an alpha, really..."

"But Qian?" Yixing asked.

"My parents were never mated," Yifan explained slowly, he took a sip from his drink and Yixing watched Yifan. "They were together in high school but knew they'd never end up mating. I came as a bit of a shock, to say the least. But, my mother kept me and moved away with me. My biological dad mated someone who wouldn't accept him if he already had a child, so I've never actually met him before.

"Qian, she's the child of my mother and her mate. My stepdad, he's an omega. They met when I was nine and by the time I was twelve, I had a younger sister. Well, half-sister, if you want to be picky. It's why my last name is Wu, not Song. Well, I was actually born a Li but then my mother changed her name after we moved, so then it was Wu and my mother thought it would be a bit confusing for me to suddenly become a Song."

"Your mother took her mate's last name? But, she's the alpha? Not that I have a problem with that, it’s just a little out of the norm. I kind of like it, actually."

"Oh, I've never really thought about that. I think it was for more assurance that my biological father wouldn't go looking for her. From what I know, he comes from money — well, my mother does, too, but he seems to be in his own league — and she's always been worried that he'd come looking for us. For me."

Yixing frowned, "She thought he would take you away from her?"

"They weren't mates, but she was still broken up when he found someone else during her pregnancy. She went through a lot on her own and only really had me, she needed to make sure she kept me."

"That's kind of," Yixing searched for the word, "heartbreaking."

Yifan nodded and finally picked up his menu, Yixing knew it was a clear cue that the strain of conversation they had been following was finished. He didn't mind it so much, not when he could see the tension between Yifan's brows increase.

"Hey, would you like to see if I can relax you?" Yixing suggested and Yifan flinched, as if he had been caught not being totally at ease with himself.

Yifan put the menu back down, "You can give it a shot."

"I've only ever done it on one alpha before," Yixing murmured and Yifan's lips twitched down. "And that was because his mate was giving birth, not because he was going on a date with me."

Yixing brought his chair more under the table and made sure to hold Yifan's gaze. He filled his lungs with oxygen before exhaling, gently letting tranquility spill out of his pores, hoping it would morph Yifan’s scent into one that mirrored his. The reaction was instantaneous with Yifan. It made his shoulders droop, his forehead smooth over, and his breaths match up with Yixing's.

Only when Yixing blinked, and reeled in his scent, did Yifan shake his head, dazed.

"Feels weird, doesn't it?" Yixing smiled.

"It was so strange, it's like I just couldn't stop myself from feeling completely calm all over. I had to loosen up and let it wash over me." Yifan gesticulated with his hands, he motioned them down his body and shook his head, everything about him read disbelief. "How come I've never known people could do this?"

Both of them turned to their menus as Yixing began to explain.

"It's not often omegas are born to alpha parents, I guess. But, each status has their own skill. Alphas mostly have confidence and the urge to be a protector. Betas are adaptable and can assimilate with anybody. Omegas are empathic. Then there are nuances within each. I only really know about omegas, though."

"What can the different omegas do?" Yifan's eyes moved up from the food list and Yixing tilted his head to pick the words to say.

"There are ones like me, who can influence certain emotions in others. Then there's the children of a wholly omega pairing, they feel what others do far more acutely, they don't tend to even need a scent.

"Omegas born to beta parents can help to encourage changes in how some people feel towards things permanently, which is why they tend to work in hospitals or in psychiatric capacities. Then the other combinations, the more common ones, they tend to have more muted abilities, but can still note things more keenly than a beta and an alpha."

"Why don't I know this stuff?" Yifan grumbled and Yixing laughed.

"You probably know all of the alpha stuff without realising," Yixing countered, he slid his menu away. "You probably have urges to protect those around you, amongst other things. You're likely to do them subconsciously because it's been like an instinct to follow."

The waitress reappeared, meaning the conversation broke off and they both placed their food orders quickly. Yixing's stomach grumbled at the mere thought of having ribs. It had been far too long since he had last eaten them.

"I forgot how much I loved this kind of food," Yixing sighed as he watched others be taken their meals.

"Do you not eat out often?" Yifan shifted a napkin onto his lap. And Yixing knew it was because his jeans were probably far more expensive than Yixing would like to have considered.

"Not really," Yixing shrugged. "I tend to stick to my diet."

Yifan's eyebrows dipped downwards, "Diet?"

"Well, maybe it’s less of a diet and more of a habit," Yixing reasoned with both himself and Yifan. "I've been eating like a professional dancer for years, just nibbling between rehearsals and not exactly having three sit-down meals a day. Going out for dinner was always reserved for show closes or winning awards. I just haven't had the chance to break that habit with how much I'm working, so this is the first time I've been out _properly_ for dinner a while."

"Is that healthy?" Yifan's eyebrows made an even deeper 'v' shape.

Yixing laughed, "I'm still alive, aren't I?"

Yifan didn't say much more, he just continued to frown gently and picked at his napkin absentmindedly. Yixing hummed softly, he hoped it would soothe Yifan into smiling again. But, that didn't help. In fact, they were quiet until their food arrived and Yixing dug into his own dish with an immediacy that he knew shocked Yifan. But, with Yixing holding the rib in his chopsticks, half hanging out of his mouth, they both giggled when their eyes caught.

Yixing let out a soft exclamation of delight at the mere taste of the pork and the sauce it was slathered with, to which Yifan smiled with the a gentle expression and only softness in his eyes.

"Nice?" Yifan questioned calmly. He had begun to eat his own food, though, with less fervor than Yixing had.

Yixing nodded his head, he bit off a chunk of meat, chewed then swallowed. "Oh god, this is incredible. I don't know how I even gave this up."

"Me neither," Yifan chuckled.

Yifan had spent more time observing Yixing rather than eating his own food, it put Yixing under a glimmer-ridden spotlight but all he could do was smile at Yifan.

Yixing cleared up his dish, once he was done, he felt full and satisfied. "Thank you so much for bringing me here."

"I can take you somewhere else that has great food, maybe on our next date?" Yifan asked tentatively, he finished up his own plate and called out to the waitress for the bill.

"Text me when and I'll make myself free," Yixing nodded, which made delight dash through his veins. "I really would like to go on another date."

"Me too," Yifan nodded.

Yixing and Yifan split the check, even though he had been the one to invite Yixing out for dinner, as Yixing couldn't allow Yifan to foot the bill on his own. Especially since Yixing's dish was the most expensive thing they'd ordered.

"You brought your car, didn't you?" Yifan asked as they walked out onto the street, his hand found Yixing's lower back again and Yixing allowed himself to step into Yifan's personal space. Into the delicious cloud of his wood sage and sea salt scent.

"Yeah, it's a few blocks away," Yixing tilted his head in the direction he'd left his car and Yifan instantly began to guide him in the direction he had nodded towards.

Yixing hadn't expected Yifan to walk him the whole way to his car and Yixing stood with his keys in his hands, nerves had caused him to shift from foot to foot. He didn't flinch as Yifan's head leant down to his and grinned as Yifan's lips met his cheek; it was only a small peck and Yixing's knees trembled just slightly.

"Thank you, so much, for helping with Qian's gift," Yifan whispered into Yixing's ear prior to pulling back. Yixing shivered with the caress of Yifan's breath on his neck.

"It was nothing," Yixing muttered, his cheeks took a healthy pink glow as he gripped the car's door handle. "Thank you for the dinner invite."

"I couldn't think of anybody better to go with," Yifan smiled as he glided in to give Yixing a kiss on his other cheek. "You should get home."

"I don't have a curfew," Yixing laughed and felt the ricochet of his breath off Yifan's cheekbone. "But yeah, I have an early morning."

"Goodnight, Yixing," he chuckled as he kissed Yixing's cheeks again.

Yixing could not contain himself as he let out little his own chortles, "Goodnight, Yifan."

Yifan reached around Yixing hand took his hand from the handle, nudged Yixing out of the way and opened up the door for him. Yixing slipped into his seat and let his beaming grin shine up at Yifan. They nodded at one another once before Yifan closed the door. Yixing started the engine and could feel Yifan's gaze on him whilst he pulled away. He flicked his eyes to his rearview mirror, Yifan stood at the side of the road and stayed there until Yixing couldn’t see him anymore.

As soon as Yixing alleviated his control on himself, there was a gush of delighted and bashful potency around him. It made him smile as he leant back on his headrest, laughter resided in his chest and excitement tingled in his fingers. He could not deny how Yifan made him feel, nor did he even try to.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

"My gege really likes you," Qian randomly blurted out as she stretched. It took both Yixing and a few of the other students by surprise to hear her say that.

"Of course your gege likes Xing-laoshi, everybody does," one of the boys piped in, a murmur of agreement rippling through the rest of the class.

"No, my gege wants Xing-laoshi to be his boyfriend."

The children all tittered with excitement, all whispering to one another about the prospect of Yifan taking an interest in Yixing in excited tones.

"Okay, guys," Yixing interrupted, feeling his face flush at the words his best dancer announced so proudly, "we are here to learn. Not to discuss Qian’s brother’s dating habits."

"So, is he your boyfriend?" another of Yixing’s students asked, eyes blown wide with curiosity. "I mean, you’re pretty old to not have a mate."

A girl hit the boy on his shoulder, hissing at him that he can’t say things like that, especially to their teacher. Yixing scolded them, trying to cover up how the word boyfriend fluttered around his stomach as Qian smiled at him from her spot in front of the mirror. With a tight-lipped smile and a subtle shake of his head, Yixing expressed his disapproval of her talking subject.

"If I hear anything else unrelated to this routine," Yixing announced loudly, "I’ll assume that you’re not working hard enough and I’ll ask your parents to drop you in for an early morning session on Sunday. Because, if you want to get better, you’ve got to put the time in."

The groans and panicked squeaks of his class made Yixing smile in another way. He would never call his students in on a Sunday. He couldn’t, in fact, do that, as the studio was used by the professionals both weekend days. But, his students didn’t know that, which meant they took the threat seriously each time he used it.

It worked like a charm, too. Pindrop silence was all that was heard for the rest of the class, other than Yixing’s calls for instructions and improvements.

Each time he looked at one of his students, his heart grew swollen with pride and affection. Especially when he saw the classmates correcting one another’s posture and movements, it always made him happy to see them interacting with one another. It spread a foreign warmth through his body, one that rested happily in his stomach.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

"You’re broody," Minseok snorted. "I never thought I would see the day that Zhang Yixing would be broody."

Yixing held the sleeping two-year-old more firmly to his chest but didn’t take his eyes away from where her thin, soft hair fell onto her forehead in little ringlets. He could see exactly why the girl was Lu Han’s pride and joy, even though his son was just as handsome.

"I’m not broody," Yixing sighed, kissing the girl’s forehead. "I enjoy spending time with my niece and nephew, I’ve missed out on so much already, I’m happy I get to be here for the rest of it."

"So, there’s no chance of us having our own godchildren in the near future?" Lu Han asked, setting Yixing’s coffee down on the table in front of the sofa.

Yixing instantly moved to answer in the negative but a flash of Yifan appeared in his head, leaving his cheeks flushed and scent seeping out in excitement. Minseok leant forward instantly, as did Lu Han as the both gently increased how much they inhaled from the air around them. It was Lu Han who pounced first, his question hitting directly where Yixing’s was most embarrassed.

"Who has you leaking your scent like you’re fourteen years old again?"

There was no point in denying it, so Yixing resigned himself to answering their probing eyes with a shy smile. "It’s only been a few dates."

"And that was enough to get you like this?"

"He makes me lose control," Yixing shuffled the girl in his arms, repositioning her until her head rested on his collarbone. "It’s been like this since the beginning."

"When was the beginning?" Minseok asked and Yixing furrowed his brows as he thought back to when he and Yifan first met.

"A couple of months ago," Yixing couldn’t place the exact date in his mind.

"Have you," Lu Han coughed into his hand, "have you had a heat since then?"

"It’s due next week," Yixing mumbled, knowing precisely where the conversation was headed.

"And will this person be there?"

Yixing shook his head, "We aren’t at that point yet. We’ve only been on two actual dates."

"But I assume that you’ll be thinking of them?" Minseok pried, driving the blood up to the hot tips of Yixing’s ears.

"I don’t know? Maybe?" Yixing shook his head. "I’ve not thought about anybody during a heat for so long that I’m not sure."

"It’ll be the first heat you’ve had since you moved back and came off those stupid pills you’ve been taking for god know’s how long," Lu Han pointed out. Concern was written everywhere on his face. "I don’t think anybody can be certain of how you’re going to react."

"Things are likely to be just fine. Don’t let him worry you."

Yixing smiled at his friends and nodded his head, "I’m not worried. I just, I don’t know how to tell him about my heat without it offending him. I don’t want him to think that I wouldn’t like to - because _I would_ \- I’m just apprehensive."

"Any person worth their salt, and worth having a place in your life, will respect your wishes," Minseok reassured him, approaching where Yixing sat and gently took the girl from Yixing’s arms. "You don’t have to do what you don’t want and nobody should force you into a single thing."

"He’s not that kind of person." Yixing reinforced with a smile. taking his coffee into his hands once Minseok had set his daughter down on a daybed they had in the corner of a room. "And that’s it. I don’t want to make him feel like I don’t want him."

"You like him that much, huh? After only two dates?" Lu Han grinned as he bit his lip, delight cast over his features. "In that case, talk to him and ensure he knows what’s happening. A heat is a big deal because you’re vulnerable and you want to be kept safe, if he's a good person, he'll respect what you want."

"I will talk to him, I can assure you of that," Yixing nodded. "And even if I don't tell him, he'll know anyway."

"What? How?" Minseok asked, standing up from where he'd crouched down beside the child.

"Oh, right, yeah. He's related to one of my ballet students that I teach in the evenings," Yixing explained gently, hoping that Lu Han or Minseok wouldn't pick up on the vagueness of his response.

And, as it seemed, Lu Han had taken the bait, "So, you're dating a single parent?"

"No," Yixing shook his head, "it's complicated."

"Complicated how?" Minseok chipped in, only to be interrupted by Lu Han soon after.

"Wait! Is that who you were messaging when we met up for coffee a few weeks ago? And you brushed it off?"

Yixing scratched the side of his head while he gulped down the drink he'd been given, finishing it before shrugging his shoulders and tilting his head to the side. "Maybe? I don't remember."

He definitely did remember and he knew that Lu Han could see that, which only left the alpha to challenge Yixing to say more with his eyes. That failed when Yixing broke the connection and Lu Han sighed, leaning back onto his sofa cushion across the room from Yixing.

"Like I said then, when you're ready to tell me what's up with you, I'll be here. _We'll_ be here."

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yixing didn't leave it to Qian to tell Yifan that Yixing would be absent from the classes, Yixing took it upon himself as he looked down at his phone in his hands. He didn't want to call Yifan, as he knew he was working, so he left him with a _WeChat_ message instead.

 

[ _大兴兴:_ ]

\- _Hey, just to let you know, I won't be around for a few days. My heat's coming up and I'll be at my apartment for the next week or so. I thought I'd tell you this so you didn't think I was ignoring you or anything. See you soon._

 

It was whilst he was fixing himself a cup of tea that Yixing saw the reply Yifan had sent, so he slid the notification across the screen with his thumb and read it through. What he saw made him smile.

 

[ _小凡凡_ : ]

- _if you need anything just let me know? ok? i'll be over at any time if you need anything as little as a sip of water. i hope you'll be ok, xing_

 

It was a gentle reminder that Yifan was the kind of person he thought Yifan was, that even though he was so young, he had a mind maturer than most. It relieved him that Yifan had reacted that way, it made his heart beat far less anxiously in his chest. He knew he could go into his heat with the confidence that Yifan would be waiting for him on the other side of it.

That thought was enough to keep him going on the first day, when his body had warmed up and slick would slip down the inner parts and backs of his legs. The only day when everything was still bearable. It was the next afternoon when Minseok appeared with a few bottles of water and a large tupperware box of Lu Han's meat skewers that Yixing realised how much effort the heat would be.

It was the fourth day, the second visit from Minseok when Yixing broke. He'd begged Minseok to get Yifan for him, so his alpha could look after him, and that's when the other omega sat beside Yixing, stroking his sweat soaked hair all the way through.

"You really like him, don't you?" Minseok whispered and Yixing only whined in response, rubbing his face on Minseok's palm. "Next heat, I'm sure he'll be here, taking care of you, Xing."

Yixing really wanted Yifan there. He'd claw at his bedsheets, sobbing Yifan's name into them, as he drove a knotting dildo in and out of himself. He fingered himself with the image of Yifan sat between his legs swirling around his brain. He even cried out Yifan's name as he came time and time again.

If he'd have been sure about his attraction to Yifan prior to his heat, Yixing was certain of it when he cooled back down, showered and dove onto the clean surface of his sofa. He found his phone on his coffee table and unlocked it. He saw that it had a full battery and sent a message of thanks to Minseok for that, and everything else he did for Yixing during his heat, first. Then he opened his conversation thread with Yifan and saw a stream of messages. None were clingy or making Yixing feel bad about telling Yifan about his heat at the very last minute.

Instead, there were photos of Qian practising her dancing at window sills and bannisters. There were a few photos of Yifan, some with a friend or two, some of just him alone. There were short messages of support, telling Yixing to stay safe and hydrated. After everything that had happened in his heat, with his emotions running haywire, Yixing felt a prickling in his nose before tears tingled their way into his vision.

"God," he muttered to himself, wiping the droplets away from his eyes, "I can't believe I'm crying over a few texts."

When he'd relaxed a little, Yixing decided to take a quick photo of himself with his head tilted just to the side, showing his dimple a little more. He didn't even bother running it through an editing app before sending it off to Yifan, tacking on a follow-up message of:

 

[ _大兴兴:_ ]

\- _I made it! Thank you for all your messages, you're really cute, Fan-ah._

 

Barely thirty seconds after the reply had been sent, Yixing's phone vibrated with a phone call and he grinned at the sight of Yifan's contact picture - a selfie he'd taken and sent to Yixing straight after he'd woken up, looking sleepy and rather adorable to Yixing.

He answered it and held his phone to his ear, Yifan's voice coming out of the speaker shortly after.

 _"Hey, I'm glad you're okay,"_ Yifan greeted him. _"I was just calling to ask for you address, I wanted to know if I could come over and see you. It's totally cool if you say no, or if you don't want me there, because I'm aware that a heat can be taxing and exhausting and—"_

"Of course you can come over," Yixing chuckled, holding more tightly to his phone to cover his slight excitement. "I'd really like to see you."

 _"Want to send me your details and I'll make my way over?"_ Yifan asked quietly, whispering as other voices in the background grew louder before they faded away. _"My bosses are in meetings all day, so they've sent the interns on a long lunch break. I've still got a few hours left before I'll be back at work."_

"Yeah, I'll do that now," Yixing took his phone away from his ear and tapped the speaker option, clicking off the screen to pull up the _WeChat_ thread he had with Yifan. "You're welcome to come over whenever you want."

 _"I'll come right away then."_ Yifan's voice was distorted by the slightly blaring volume coming from Yixing's phone. _"It'd be a waste to spend my time here. I'll put my jacket on and leave now."_

Yixing hummed gently, typing his address details in as Yifan shuffled around on the other end. Once he had pressed the blue send button, he smiled. "It's been sent, so I guess I'll see you soon?"

 _"Yeah, I'll be there now,"_ Yifan whispered. _"See you in a few."_

Yifan was the one who hung up and Yixing looked around from his sofa, taking in the mess of boxes and water bottles and cups that he'd piled up on his kitchen side. He still ached a lot but he didn't want Yifan to be able to see - _or smell_ \- the remnants of Yixing's heat, not when he wasn't exactly sure how Yifan would react to it all. He was young. And Yixing had no idea how experienced he was with omega heats and how potent they could be.

It was his first port of call to put his air purifier on in the living room and throw open his bedroom windows, hoping to blow some of the scents through and out of the apartment. He washed up in the kitchen, scrubbing out the boxes of Lu Han and Minseok's leftovers he'd scarfed down during the week. He knew he had to empty the bin but even that small amount of movement had his limbs cawing out for rest on the sofa. But that nervous energy that spun around within him tangled up into furios ball of anxiety within him.

Yixing was struggling after his heat. He always forgot about how imbalanced he felt afterwards and part of him wished he could hold that back from Yifan. But, the want to see the alpha trumped that. Instead, he let it all coil up in his muscles and embed itself there as something almost solid. He guessed it was better than nothing. Better than being an emotional metronome that swung back and forth between feelings he couldn't control.

A message from Yifan told Yixing that he was almost there and Yixing curled up in the far corner of his two seater sofa with his phone cradled in his hands, awaiting Yifan's next alert that he was there. And once it came through, Yixing hopped up and buzzed him in using the phone next to the door. He quickly checked himself in the mirror he had in the entryway, wanting to make himself look as put together as he could, but he gave up after a few tries. His hair was still unruly and he was still in some sweatpants and a hoody he'd stolen from Lu Han.

When the knock on his door came, he felt himself jolt in slight shock, before working automatically to let Yifan in. Yixing was nervous when he look up and saw the alpha standing there, but he curled his lips into a grin as he tried to cover his nervousness.

"Hey," he sighed, sounding rather dumb. Though, that was better than the alternative of letting his scent out and embarrassing himself in front of Yifan. "Want to come in?"

Yifan nodded his head and followed Yixing's body in as he shuffled further into the apartment, closing the door behind him and Yixing kept glancing over his shoulder at him. They were quiet as Yifan sat himself down where Yixing had been and Yixing knew he had to do something, so he busied himself with getting them both a glass of water each.

He didn't realise how tense he was until fingers rubbed into the top of his back, causing them to unfurl under the the thumbs circling on his aching muscles.

"Do you want me here?" Yifan's voice was low but there was a timid quality to it, making Yixing turn around and lean against the work surface. Yifan's arms stayed where they were, resting over Yixing's shoulders, keeping them close, and instinct had Yixing placing his hands on Yifan's waist. There was still space between them but it was the closest they had been before, Yixing was sure of that.

With a slight bow of his head, Yixing let himself go. "I do want you here, I promise."

"Then relax, Yixing, take a few breaths and let yourself unwind. You've had a tiring and stressful week. Don't let my presence make you uncomfortable."

"You're not," Yixing tried to reassure, still looking down at their feet on the floor. "Everything in my brain is a bit all over the place and I literally just finished my heat during the night. I'm trying to gather myself."

"Xing, you don't have to be so polished constantly. It's okay to be yourself when you're with me, even when you're feeling this emotionally exhausted. You don't have to be perfect in everything you do, you just need to be _you_."

Yixing could sense himself smiling at the words. He'd spent years of his life being told - and telling himself - to be better, to be flawless, that he'd felt normalcy fade away. He didn;t know how to handle it. But, having Yifan there, with his coastal yet incredibly earthy smell, it helped.

"You're not just a ballet danseur, Yixing, you're human, too. You're allowed to let yourself slip and be normal, which means being able to give in to yourself and your instincts."

"I know," Yixing nodded, finally facing up at Yifan. "Maybe it's an age thing? I don't know. But I feel like I should have myself sorted because being that open to your instincts is something for young people. I should not be this way."

What Yifan said next showed his age, putting a spin on what had been said that Yixing hadn't intended. "Why not? What's so wrong with being like that?"

But, the genuinely hurt look in Yifan's eyes and the tone to his voice halted a flash of annoyance that flamed in a sharp fireball within Yixing.

"I'm not saying that being like that's a bad thing but I'm trying to point out that complications that I face with it. People my age don't have their emotions fly everywhere because of the touch of another person. Nobody I know does it and I don't want to do it either."

"Xing," Yifan sighed, cupping Yixing's face to keep their eyes fixed on each other, "don't take this the wrong way, but a lot of people your age are mated. Their scent is dulled and mixed with their partner's. They probably have slip-ups, too, but it's all shielded away. And even if you don't want to show the rest of the world, I would hope that you can show me. "

Yixing didn't know what to say, so he let the words flit in the space between them and Yifan gave Yixing a closed mouth smile. It was an expression that softened Yixing completely, leaving him to unfurl in the presence of Yifan and he found himself wanting to let go of the control he'd force upon himself. The more he relaxed, the more he let air from his lungs and pushed tension from his muscles, the more of his scent he released around them.

He could see how Yifan's pupils widened and that his breathing changed from shallow to just shy of deep. It was a sign, probably a subconscious one, of Yifan's attraction to him. The mere change in the level of Yixing's scent around them had Yifan staring at him with slightly darkened pupils and Yixing relished in it. He'd never had someone react like that to him.

"You don't have to be perfect, Xing. Not when you're around me."

"Thank you," he muttered genuinely, as if he'd relieved himself of something that had been pent up for a long time. "I guess I don't know what's normal anymore. I lived in a bubble from my late teens, where I belonged to a company and I _had_ to have a firm grip on myself."

"And that's okay. You're never too old to learn these things and to let yourself do what you want," Yifan reassured him, stepping even closer and using his fingers to tug Yixing's mouth up into a smile before resting his arms back over Yixing's shoulders.

Yixing rolled his eyes, sucking on his teeth, "You make it sound like I'm going through a midlife crisis."

"Is that not what this is?" Yifan jibed, lightening up the mood and Yixing chuckled, pinching Yifan's side and listening to the way Yifan's laughter barked out of his mouth.

"So much disrespect."

"I know, I know, I should always respect my elders," Yifan teased with a playful flush to his face and Yixing's heart made Yixing rise up onto his toes, bringing their eyes in line.

Yifan's gaze slipped down to Yixing's grinning mouth, which had Yixing biting on his lip. The question of, "What are you looking at?" that he posed made Yifan's focus snap back up to Yixing's eyes.

"You can kiss me, you know?" Yixing whispered, indulging in the way Yifan's responding laughter bounced off his mouth and tilting his head up to lessen the space left between them. "You look like you want to and I definitely won't run away."

"Really?"

Yifan's smile stayed on his face until their lips were a hairsbreadth apart, he closed his lips until they settled gently between Yixing's and Yixing's toes curled up in his socks. He pushed his lips out slightly and Yifan's caught them more firmly between his again, breathing gently as their lips curved excitedly. Yixing's fingers found their way into Yifan's hair and he scratched softly ar Yifan's scalp, coaxing Yifan's scent from his pores and into the air around them. It drenched Yixing in a warmth that tingled in his fingertips and the base of his spine.

Something in Yixing's brain purred at their kisses, it was the instinctual part that had made Yixing crave Yifan so deeply in the week before, satisfying it. And it seemed like Yifan didn't want to stop, either. Even as they sat together to watch some TV shows on Yixing's laptop, Yifan would turn Yixing's head to the side to kiss him again and again.

The ways their lips locked together were all shy and closed-mouthed, such an innocent feeling that had made Yixing relieved that Yifan was there. After the potent intensity of Yixing's week, it was what he needed. And it's what he got.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

It was telling of Yifan’s age when he’d randomly swoop in to kiss Yixing’s lips when he picked something up in the supermarket. Yixing, however, would stop still when it happened. If he’d thought it difficult to contain his scent when Yifan was merely close or brushing their skin together, it was impossible when their lips touched. Yixing’s shock and flushed face caused him to stand in the middle of the fruit department like he was stuck there. Yifan would smile at him and cover the side of Yixing’s neck with the flat palm of his hand. Mixing Yifan’s distinct sea salt and wood sage smell with Yixing’s leaking pheromones.

Just that action alone was enough to have Yixing feeling more comfortable around Yifan - and about loosening his grip on himself in public. When they were alone in Yixing’s apartment, instead of Yifan’s hand sitting on Yixing’s neck, his nose would press there instead. Sometimes he’d nibble or lick the skin, trying to pry out more of what Yixing tried to keep in, which always worked, given how sensitive the skin on Yixing’s neck was. And it was always right above Yixing’s pulse point, the exact spot Yixing would wear a mark if he’d been mated.

Sometimes, when Yixing’s body would react to Yifan’s nibbling by burying his hands in Yifan’s hair and trying to pull him closer, Yifan would pull back instantly. His nose would be flared, his pupils would be blown, and his own hand would come up to cover his mouth. Yixing knew his actions could, at times, be a push at Yifan’s restraints.

"I’m so sorry," he’d always apologise, taking Yifan’s hand away from his mouth and placing a kiss on the bluish veins of Yifan’s wrist. "I’ll go put the kettle on and give you some space."

As much as Yixing hated having a lessened grip on himself around Yifan, he could recover far faster from losing control than Yifan could, just because he was used to it. It would always be the same routine, too. Yixing would leave the lounge area, starting up the air purifier as he passed it and clicking the kettle on to boil water. The steam and the scent filter would be enough alone, but Yixing knew how much the smell of chamomile tea with a couple of drops of honey would always work best. As Qian smelt almost identical to it.

Merely being handed a cup of the tea would make Yifan sink back into the cushion of the sofa, just letting the fragranced water fill his senses, with his eyes closed. Yixing, holding his own mug in one hand, would twine their fingers together. Sometimes Yifan would fall asleep like that, when Yixing would help him calm down. And Yixing would look at the young alpha for a while, taking the cup of then cold tea from Yifan to place it onto the coffee table before brushing some of his hair out of his eyes. On the odd occasion, when Yixing hadn’t had the best day at work, he’d curl up into Yifan’s side and feel the warmth of someone beside him, nose tilted up against his neck as he listened to the steady thuds of Yifan’s heart.

His own neck would always ache from the angle he was sat in after a while, but he’d never want to move.

Yixing never said anything, but the mornings he would wake up with Yifan on the sofa were always his favourite. They’d both feel that tight soreness in their muscles as they stretched and unfurled themselves, but the kisses would always make it worth it.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yixing looked at Qian sat on the picnic bench and stroked his fingers through her hair, being careful not to dislodge the princess tiara she’d donned for the day. She had a pile of purple clips and hair tie’s in front of her, chattering to Yixing about how she was going to make her gege look pretty for their outing at the zoo. And, had Yixing not known Yifan, he would have snorted at the notion of the young alpha humouring the child omega enough for that. But when Yifan returned and saw everything Qian had pulled out of her penguin backpack, he sat down with his back to his sister without even needing to be prompted.

"How is my hair going to be today, Meimei?"

Qian hummed and looked up at Yixing for a moment, giving him a once over before giving him a serious nod. She didn’t reply to Yifan’s question and started working instead, pulling the top of Yifan’s hair into a small ponytail at the back of his head and using the clips to pin the straying sides back. Qian was particular, Yixing noted, in where she put everything, checking a few times over to see if it was symmetrical on either side.

She squealed when she was done, obviously the cue for Yifan to turn around and face her, revealing her work in its entirety to both Yixing and Qian. Yixing couldn’t contain his smile as Yifan rose up onto his feet to let Qian evaluate what she’d managed to do. Her eyes were full of scrutiny as she looked Yifan up and down, only to then turn away.

Qian shrugged her shoulders as she sighed, "I guess you’ll never be handsome enough for XingXing."

Yifan’s face dropped in shock, his eyes blinked so rapidly that Yixing wondered if Yifan could actually see much more than the strobing of the daylight sun. Yixing laughed, taking Qian’s hand when it was offered to him and she pulled him to the gate of the zoo. Yixing already had his wallet out and was paying for the entry tickets when Yifan finally caught up with them, lifting up Qian and putting her on his shoulders. With the sudden shock of being picked up, Qian let out a small scream and Yixing just couldn’t help himself from chuckling as he paid the cashier what he needed to.

"She used to idolise me," Yifan scolded with a mock scowl to Yixing, using one of Qian’s feet to lightly hit him on the shoulder. "But now she doesn’t think I’m the most handsome man in the world anymore."

"You can’t dance, Gege." Qian pulled Yifan’s ponytail. "How could you ever be good enough for XingXing if you can’t dance?"

"I’m good at other things," Yifan tried to claim, but Qian was already demanding to go and see the monkeys first. Yixing could see Yifan’s mind working as his face drew up from its scandalised expression to a grin. "We’ll only go and see the monkeys if you say I’m good enough for Yixing."

Yixing knew Yifan thought it would work but he clearly underestimated Qian. Especially when Yixing looked up at her and she winked at him, starting to giggle as she said, "Then I don’t want to see the monkeys anymore."

Yifan veered to a patch of grass just off from the path and stopped, he let go of Qian’s feet to push his fingers into her sides, tickling her to the point where she had to cling to his head and kick her legs out. Her hair blew everywhere around their heads but Yifan didn’t stop. The sound of Qian and Yifan laughing together was exactly what Yixing needed to hear as Yixing followed where Yifan had walked. He was unabashed in his own laughter as he watched the siblings play around, his heart warming to the sight of them together.

When Qian called out that she would wet herself if Yifan continued, the both of them stopped to catch their breaths. As they did that, Yixing drew closer and could hear the faint sounds of them whispering to one another. Yifan put Qian on the ground, both of them looking at him with equally cunning grins and Yixing took a cautious step backwards.

"Don’t you dare," Yixing warned, covering up his neck with his hands but Yifan was already walking towards him.

With his grip on himself so weak, Yifan pulled his hands away from Yixing’s throat and leant in to blow air on his skin. His reaction was immediate, the feeling of being tickled weakened his knees as he giggled but Yifan held him, lowering Yixing just enough for Qian to be able to puff her breath out on his neck, too. They did that until Yixing’s eyes watered, both of them chuckling as Yixing tried, in vain, to escape.

"Come on, then. Let’s go see those monkeys," Yifan panted, being the first one to stand upright, his left hand searching for Qian and his right tugging Yixing until he was stood next to him.

Qian evaded Yifan’s seeking hand and ran to be between both the adults, reaching up to grip their fingers, showcasing where an adult tooth was growing between two baby ones as she smiled. She kept that expression until Yifan leant forward and kissed Yixing’s lips softly.

Even with an eight-year-old girl squealing in disgust at the affection her brother showed to him, Yixing still thought it was the best date he’d ever been on.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yifan was on his laptop when Yixing came back to the lounge with two cups of coffee in his hands. It was a Sunday, the best day of the week for Yixing and neither of them had wanted to do much.

Yixing had liked that they’d slowly stopped going out for all of their dates, both preferring to sit in Yixing’s apartment and read quietly or watch films together. It meant he could sit with Yifan’s head on his lap, tracing over Yifan’s features until the alpha tried to bite at his fingers. It meant Yifan could scent Yixing as he pleased. It meant they could plainly bask in one another with nobody else there.

Yifan, even though he said he wasn’t, was working. Yixing didn’t say anything about it, guessing that it was important if Yifan was concentrating so hard on his laptop screen. Rather, he tucked his feet under Yifan’s thighs when he’d sat down and put Yifan’s coffee on the side, sipping gently at his own drink and resting his head on the backrest. He watched Yifan for a while, feeling Yifan’s frustration before it even showed on his face.

It was when Yifan shut his laptop with a muted slam and pushed it sharply away that Yixing moved. He crawled the short distance between them and lifted Yifan’s laptop up, putting it on his own lap as he sat on Yifan’s thighs. The reaction from Yifan was instant, his nose pressed against the tender spot beneath Yixing’s ear and he took in deep lungfuls of air, calming instantly. Yixing rubbed at the alpha’s shoulders and back, growing confident in his touches when he felt Yifan’s body unclench from his tense state.

Nothing was said when Yixing tilted Yifan’s head towards him, gently hovering his lips over Yifan’s for a moment before coaxing a kiss out of Yifan. It was only a few moments before Yifan’s arms wrapped tightly around Yixing’s waist, the left one straying upwards to hook his fingers over Yixing’s right shoulder, grounding Yixing to Yifan’s body.

"Are you okay?" What’s wrong?" Yixing whispered against Yifan’s mouth, pulling back half an inch.

Yifan nodded his head, touching his nose to Yixing’s, "It’s nothing that should matter."

"You sure?" Yixing put his hands on Yifan’s shirt collar, pulling it down to kiss at the alpha’s chest whilst he slid Yifan’s laptop onto the coffee table. All so he could shuffle his hips forward, wanting to be closer. When Yifan’s shirt doesn’t stretch any further at the neck, Yixing tries to lift it up from the hem. "Maybe I should give you a massage?"

Yifan hummed in agreement, letting Yixing’s hands pry up his shirt until it was gone completely. There was a gentle waft of Yifan’s scent towards him and Yixing didn’t even stop himself from kissing the skin, slowly making his way across Yifan’s chest to gulp down and soak up the sea coast essence of Yifan’s skin.

"Xing," Yifan sighed whilst his hands slipped from Yixing’s back to hold loosely at Yixing’s hair, "this isn’t going in the direction of a back rub."

Yixing laughed against his skin and sat back on Yifan’s thighs, shimming himself off so Yifan could lay with his front pressed to the sofa’s seats. There was a bottle of body lotion in the drawer of Yixing’s coffee table and he squirted some out into his hands, rubbing them together until it was warm. He straddled Yifan's hips, still smoothing over his own hands, waiting for Yifan to be comfortable enough for him to begin.

He spread it over Yifan’s back with his palms before going in with his fingertips to push the flesh over Yifan’s muscles, he went at Yifan’s shoulders with his thumbs and the heels of his palms and Yifan seemed to melt into the sofa.Yixing covered every inch of Yifan's back, running up and down his spine then fanning outwards to feel the grooves of his ribs, extracting small sighs and groans from Yifan's throat. It was all muffled by the decorative pillow Yifan had buried his head into.

Though he stayed silent, Yixing made sure to remain open to Yifan's feelings, letting his hands flow out with the ability to relax Yifan.

Yifan turned his head and sought out Yixing, "You're cheating by using your empathic abilities."

"I was born with this ability for a reason. Plus, I only used it because you were open to being calmed down. It's not like I would ever do it against your will; frustration and anger and everything else like that are natural feelings, I'd never take away your right to feel them." Yixing whispered, not breaking the concentration he had on the alpha's body to help him unravel further. "I'm glad I can help you, though. You seemed pretty wound up."

Yifan didn’t say anything, he sighed and Yixing would have been able to ignore it, had the tiny sound of Yifan grinding his jaw not come through the air. He watched for a for moments before trailing his fingers up Yifan’s neck, brushing against where Yifan’s cheek had hardened up. Yifan took that as a cue, of which Yixing was thankful for, as he didn’t want to force something out of Yifan that he didn’t want to share.

With some shuffling of their bodies, Yifan managed to turn over fully and look up at Yixing sat on his stomach. Yixing smiled gently down at him, searching for Yifan’s hands to hold them on his lap, trying to keep him relaxed.

"When did you stop dancing?" Yifan asked, brows pinched up towards each other.

"Oh." Yixing felt his expression rounch to one of shock. He really hadn’t expected that. "I only stopped around nine months ago."

"Were you injured?" Yifan’s eyes met Yixing’s, holding something back. And while it wasn’t a bargain or blackmail, Yixing knew the truth would crack open that little box that housed Yifan’s frustrations.

Yixing shook his head, "It wasn’t an injury. It was love."

A thousand emotions danced across Yifan’s face, all following from one to the other until Yifan put an impassive mask over it all, pushing Yixing out that little bit more.

"Don’t worry," Yixing reassured, he leant in and kissed the side of Yifan’s cheek. "It wasn’t anything romantic. I just fell out of love with ballet and had to get out of that environment, you know, before I was replaced. My dreams had been reached and as much as I wanted to hold onto that, my career would have ended in a few seasons anyway, so I thought i may as well get myself away. Come back home. Spend time with my friends and their children. Maybe find my love for ballet again."

Yifan took a minute or two to let that sink in, his gaze softened up once Yixing had given over his piece of honesty but there was something there, something Yifan struggled to come to terms with.

"Would you tell me anything honestly if I asked you to?"

"Of course, I’d tell you everything."

As Yifan grappled with his words, Yixing brought their hands to rest on Yifan’s chest. He toying with Yifan’s thumbs when the alpha eventually asked, "Have you ever been in love before? Like, have you been close to mating?"

"For being in love? Probably not. For being close to mating? Maybe once," Yixing hummed, he rested his forehead against Yifan’s and exhaled. "A long time ago, before I left home to permanently join a company after ballet school. It was going to be something of convenience, like a back-up if my dreams didn’t go to plan, but everything took off and it was all too easy to end things. I was young and worried about being alone. Though, now I know that there’s no harm at all in being alone."

"Do you want a mate?" Yifan’s hands held to Yixing’s slightly more tightly and Yixing knew it was subconscious.

To allay Yifan’s fears, Yixing kissed him gently, "Doesn’t everyone want someone they can share everything with?"

With another brush of their lips, Yixing sealed his words into a silent promise and he felt Yifan’s breath catch under his chest. They stayed like that, with Yixing hoping the closeness of their bodies would be enough to unlock that final bit of Yifan and Yifan gazing straight into his soul.

"My father found me," he whispered, finally letting all of his tension go.

Yixing sat upright suddenly, letting their hands go to thumb over Yifan’s cheeks instead, seriousness seeping into every part of his body.

"How do you know?" Yixing asked, worried by how Yifan had become a display of fear.

"I got a call when I was in a meeting on Friday, I let it go to voicemail and only remembered it this morning. When I listened to it, the man said he was Kuang Jian."

"And that’s your father?" Yixing probed gently, not moving an inch until Yifan nodded his head in slight movements. "You’re an adult, he can’t do anything to you."

"I know that but I don’t want him around Mama, I don’t know what that would do to her. She wouldn’t have changed our names for no reason, right?" Yifan’s words were whispered, like he was worried they were being overheard and Yixing laid himself down fully on Yifan’s chest. "I don’t know what he wants."

"Then don’t respond to his message," Yixing advised, tucking his head under Yifan’s chin to kiss his neck in light pecks. "Maybe he’ll understand that you don’t want to meet him."

"I hope so," Yifan muttered whilst he brought his arms around Yixing’s shoulders, keeping him close.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yixing knew that Yifan was trying to seem more stable about the situation than he really was, he could feel it when they were together and how Yifan wouldn’t sleep so well at night. Each time, Yixing had been woken up because Yifan couldn’t stop wriggling in the bed. Or, because his fingers would brush over Yixing’s face enough to make him stir awake. It was never something Yixing grew frustrated with, no matter how exhausted he felt. He would either help placate Yifan into sleeping or he’d talk with Yifan until the sun came up, always wanting to do anything to make him feel less stressed.

However, as they came to their seventh night of Yifan’s restlessness, Yixing refused to let him get into the bed when he was still so tense.

"You’ll make yourself sick," he argued, holding gently on Yifan’s wrists. "Being well rested is extremely important, Yifan."

"Xing, I’ll be fine," Yifan tried to rebut, but Yixing shook his head, knowing exactly what the alpha would say.

"You won’t be fine, and do you know how I know that? Because even I’m exhausted from this and I’m getting it all secondhand. I can’t even imagine how you feel."

"Don’t be like this," Yifan whined, pulling himself from Yixing’s grasp. "I just want to go to bed."

"And I don’t want you getting into my bed when you’re not even going to sleep, Yifan."

"So, what? You’re just going to make me go home because of this?"

Yixing could sense how the little squabble could build up into something more, something neither of them needed, but he couldn’t let Yifan continue. Even if every other part of him wished they could be curled up into Yifan’s side, he knew he had to make his point.

"If you’re going to be like this, then yes," Yixing levelled, he’d hoped that would make Yifan think with more clarity but it only seemed to agitate the situation further.

The alpha rolled his eyes and grabbed his phone that he’d been charging on the bedside cabinet, as he stuffed it into his back pocket, he looked at Yixing and said, "Fine, I’ll just go."

Yixing sighed, rubbing his eyes. He didn’t want Yifan to be agitated or upset with him, not when he was so stressed, but Yifan was adamant on leaving. Even when Yixing followed after him, through the apartment to where Yifan replaced his slippers with his shoes, trying to coax Yifan into talking properly, he wouldn’t listen.

"I just wanted to sleep next to my boyfriend because being near you helps to make me feel relaxed, but you had to go and pick a fight," Yifan grumbled. Yixing knew it was the tiredness talking, as Yifan appeared to just feel annoyed more an anything.

"I wasn’t trying to pick a fight, Fan," Yixing reasoned with the full knowledge it would land on deaf ears. "I want to make you feel better."

Yifan put his jacket on and turned to face Yixing, letting a long breath pass his lips whilst they looked at each other. "I’ll message you when I’m home."

"Thank you," Yixing murmured, mutely.

Yifan gave him a short kiss on the forehead then left through the front door, clicking it shut behind him and Yixing stared at it for a while. He stepped forward and locked it, frowning as Yifan’s scent grew progressively stale in the entryway.

He glanced up at the clock and saw that it had just gone eleven, it only intensified the parts of his brain that told him that _he_ probably wouldn’t sleep well without Yifan there. Instead of trying to linger on it, Yixing made his way to the kitchen and boiled the kettle.

The water inside was still slightly warm from when Yifan had made himself some decaf instant coffee a short while before. Yixing knew that drink was still in his bedroom and went to get it as he waited, pouring it down the sink and rinsing the mug out. He left the cup on the draining board and leant against it. Ignoring when the switch on the kettle flicked to tell him it was ready.

Upon closing his eyes, Yixing put his hands to his face and ran them down it and his head began to throb slightly. That’s when he fixed himself his cup of valerian tea, blowing on it for a couple of minutes before sipping it down, ignoring how the tip of his tongue burnt.

There was a muted vibration from the bedroom some time later, when Yixing had made another hot drink and had settled himself in the lounge. He knew it must have been Yifan messaging him about getting home, so he shuffled the short distance to his bedroom and picked up his phone from where he’d left it on the duvet.

With a slide of his finger, Yixing pulled up the _WeChat_ message and ran his fingers over the words Yifan had sent

 

[ _小凡凡_ : ]

__\- i’m sorry, xing. i don’t want to argue with you even when it’s small like this. i’m got home safe and i’ll come over again when i can get everything sorted._ _

 

Yixing didn’t reply and locked his phone again, getting into his bed to spend time staring at the ceiling of his bedroom until his eyes grew heavy. It was different without Yifan there. When he was bleary with sleep, he turned onto his side and pushed his hand across the mattress, feeling where it dipped slight beneath his palm. He wondered when his bed had taken on an almost permanent imprint of Yifan’s body, and when his life had, too.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

"And he’s not visited since?" Minseok posed, his voice muted and gentle, trying to keep Lu Han from hearing.

"He hasn’t even picked Qian up from her classes and he always does that. I know he’s avoiding me but I’m too nervous to send him a message, I don’t want him to think I’m forcing him to do something he isn’t comfortable with. But then, I don’t want him to think I’m pushing him away, that I’m okay with this distance between us."

Minseok took his time with responding. He dunked his biscuit into his tea, letting it soak for a second before bringing it out and taking a bite out of it. He mulled over and thought about what Yixing said as he chewed and sipped on his drink. But, the look in his eyes told Yixing that he wasn’t waiting for the words to come to him. He was waiting for someone else. It was once he has swallowed down his biscuit and tea that his wait was done with.

"Well, if you ask my opinion, this all sounds juvenile to me," Lu Han mused from across the room.

"I knew you were eavesdropping," Minseok accused, he flicked his eyes over to his mate and Yixing felt himself smile as Lu Han scuttled out of the room at being caught. Watching his mate, Minseok smiled to himself, "He’s the juvenile one in this house."

"I heard that," Lu Han hissed, poking his head around the side of the door.

"You were supposed to," Minseok teased back, poking his tongue out at his mate. And Yixing felt warmth spread within him, his entire being softened up by their interactions with each other.

"You can come in and listen, Ge, if you want to." When Yixing had called to him, he lifted his coffee up, took a sip, then continued, "If you’re going to listen in, you may as well be here."

"I thought you’d want to have omega time, or whatever it is." Even as he said those words, he rushed in to sit next to his mate and gulped down some of his tea.

Minseok snorted, "Well, we can’t have ‘omega time’ if you’re hanging around, pretending to clean."

Lu Han rolled his eyes then gave his attention to Yixing, putting his elbows on the table then propping his head up with his hands. "So, tell us more about your mystery alpha and why he hasn’t called you."

Yixing ran his thumbs up the side of his mug and released a long exhale, "He’s called Yifan and I really like him, like, really, really like him."

"And what does Yifan do?"

"He’s an intern at a fashion house," Yixing revealed, teeth nibbling on his lip.

"A fashion house? And does he realise that you’re stylistically stunted?" Lu Han joked, his eyes trailing up and down Yixing’s relaxed attire.

Minseok ignored what his mate said, in favour of frowning as he thought. Yixing held his breath in his chest as he noted the cogs that must have been turning in Minseok’s head. "An intern? That’s a bit weird for someone who’s like thirty."

"He’s younger," Yixing muttered.

Lu Han’s interest piqued, like a small dog that could hear his food bowl filling. "Younger? How much younger?"

"He’s twenty one," Yixing cringed as he said the words, not out of discomfort at Yifan’s age but it was preemptive of their rejection.

Yixing could only grimace further as the mates met eyes, having a silent conversation and Yixing felt like he was trying to scramble up a muddy, slippery slope as he awaited their judgement. They were quiet for too long. Yixing hadn’t ever felt so exposed. Yixing hadn’t ever felt so defensive of his feelings before, not when it involved Yifan, too.

"Give him a chance, guys, please," Yixing gently pleaded. "I know he’s a bit young but he’s really great. I’ve never felt like this before and I want to share it with you both, like how you’ve shared your bond with me."

Yixing picked at nothing on the side of his cup, lips twisted slightly into an unsure frown, shoulders hunched in such a way that he looked small in his clothes. He wanted his friends to accept his feelings in the same way that he had always done for them - with pride and overwhelming joy at their happiness.

"Of course we will, Xing." Lu Han moved from his side of the table to Yixing’s, tucking Yixing under his chin and rubbing his arms. "Anybody that’s important to you is immediately important to us."

There was a slight sniffling noise and Yixing looked over to Minseok, whose normally placid expression showed quivering lips and wet eyelashes. "I’m so happy that you’ve found someone."

"It’s almost his heat," Lu Han whispered into Yixing’s ear as they observed Minseok furiously rubbing his eyes to get rid of his tears. "But, I’m with him on this. You deserve to have someone adore you."

Yixing’s eyes blurred up and he nuzzled into Lu Han’s neck, his hands taken away from his cup by Minseok’s as he held them. It didn’t take long for Minseok to join them, the three of them huddled up together, all rubbing their cheeks together to mix their scents and share their emotional delight over the change in Yixing's life.

"Stay here with us," Lu Han told Yixing. "Just until this stuff with Yifan has cleared up. It wouldn't sit right with either of us if you were to go back to your apartment and feel lonely there. Plus, the kids would be excited to have a sleepover with their favourite da-ge."

"Okay," Yixing hummed in confirmation, moving his arms to hug them both tightly.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Qian was already in her puffy coat, stood by the door on the tips of her toes to peer through the window to see outside. She huffed in impatience as the rain fell and Yixing, from where he sat across the room with his notebook in hand. He had been scribbling down choreography ideas for one of the idols he worked with, waiting for whoever was going to pick Qian up to take her home. He couldn't leave the studio without her being collected by someone and he hadn't minded staying with her, even managing to get her slightly ahead in some moves.

But, it had been an hour and, still, nobody came for her. The lights in most of the other studios had been turned off and the cleaners had moved in to wash the wooden panelled flooring.

"Can you call Gege and see where he is?" Qian asked, she turned around and began to approach Yixing, sitting at his side when she reached him. "He was supposed to come today."

Yixing would have dialled for Yifan instantly, had they been how they were two weeks before yet the change had made him nervous. Then there was Qian, with her childishly large eyes and pouted lips. He couldn't say no and he caved. He fished his phone out of his pocket and scrolled until he found Yifan's number in his _Recents_ section.

It rang through once and then again. On the third try, when Qian's eyes glittered and glistened with sadness, Yifan answered.

_"Xing, I can't talk right now. I'm busy at wor — "_

"Yifan, I'm with Qian. Nobody has come to pick her up," Yixing interrupted, speaking over the background noise that almost drowned Yifan out. "Is anybody coming for her?"

 _"Oh, fuck, I was supposed to do that today. I thought it was Wednesday, not Thursday. Fuck, fuck, fuck,"_ Yifan almost yelled and Yixing jumped to see if Qian had heard him. _"Shit, I can't get away to collect her. And I have the car, so it's not like anybody else can get her."_

"It's okay," Yixing deflated slightly, holding his hand up for Qian to hold. "I'll take her home, to your mother's place."

_"You don't have to. I'll work something out."_

"There's nothing to be worked out if I'm handing you a solution, Yifan. I said I can take her home because you can't. I don't have anything else planned for tonight, so it won't be much trouble for me."

Yixing stood up and pulled his coat that had been hung up over his shoulders, he felt in his pocket for his car keys before perching his phone on his shoulder. Qian took his hand again and they both began to leave.

 _"Thank you, so much, Xing."_ Yifan whispered through the speaker. _"I'll make this up to you, I promise. I'll call you when I've finished here, okay? So don't sleep until we've talked. I'll get my address to you, too."_

"Yeah, sure," Yixing smiled to himself. "You concentrate on work and I'll get Qian home."

"I've really got to go now, I'll talk to you later." The phone cut off and Yixing put it away.

"Are we going home now, Xing-laoshi?" Qian's voice, still watery in her feeling of being left behind, was timid as she spoke. "I want to go to bed."

"Of course, that's where I'm taking you," he reassured her as they walked down the street t where he had parked that morning.

Looking in the back of his car, Yixing flustered slightly. He let go of Qian’s hand and told her to stay on the path as he rushed around to the back of his car. Yixing’s panic lingered under his breath and tightly in his hands whilst he opened the trunk of the car. He hoped to himself that he had Yifan’s spare booster seat in there.

He could have cried out in utter delight when he saw the plastic, cushioned covered seat next to the blanket he always had rolled up in there.

It took him barely any time to get the seat and Qian buckled up on the rear seats of his car, constantly smiling at the sleepy child as she tried to keep herself awake. As he keyed in the address Yifan had messaged him, she babbled about her favourite television shows and her parents. Sometimes mentioning Yifan, too. Yixing wasn’t even halfway to Yifan’s mother's house when the talking slipped away and became adorably quiet snores.

He checked on Qian in his rearview mirror each time it was safe to do so, his want to hold her to his chest and protect her outweighing all else. It helped that he could smell notes of Yifan’s scent on her, even under her own wonderfully balanced honey and jasmine scent.

It took a few blinks to get rid of the thought once it had gone into his head — wondering if his and Yifan’s child, or children, would bring him that much comfort.

Even without anyone there to see it, Yixing’s cheeks flooded with hot, red embarrassment, his scent clamouring to escape from his pores to display his emotional imbalance. His hand flew to the button to roll down his window, wishing for the air to circulate and clear out as quickly as he could make possible.

Each deep breath he took in lessened in its weight as his scent dissipated or drifted out of the window, but his cheeks were still rouge tinted and hot. His thoughts, as innocently placed as they were, confounded Yixing. He knew that he and Yifan were reaching a stage where the seriousness of their relationship was going to be considered, but his instincts called out for him to be with Yifan as his mate. To start a family with him.

It didn’t aid his ruffled state when he remembered his last heat, of how he had thought of Yifan and Yifan mating with him. He had assumed that it was the misty haze of his imagination putting a face, a person, in line with what it craved. Maybe that’s all it was. But it didn’t stop him considering that maybe that was his _truest_ response in his heat. That Yifan was the person that, not only his heart, but his instincts and head saw him being with.

Yixing would have wanted to drive around for hours more to mull over those prospects, to let the endless pathway of roads before him facilitate his brain in clearing itself out. But the sight of Yifan’s mother’s home as it came into view hindered him. The stacked building, with its brown wooden door and black details, sitting at the end of the street closed his thoughts into a box. One he wasn’t sure he would let himself open again, not when he was alone, and not when he and Yifan had so much more left to talk about.

It was decided that taking his key out of the ignition and stepping out onto the driveway was the moment his brain hit refresh. He controlled his inhales and exhales, deepening them until he could detect the residual scents around the house, and his tensions unfurled like ferns in the morning sun.

He collected Qian out of her seat, being careful to not jostle her awake, and carried her up to the front door. Yixing rang the bell. He could feel Qian’s hair against his neck, the wisps from her tightly wound bun tickling at his skin, drawing a small smile onto his lips.

The door flung open and Yifan’s mother let out the most relieved sigh he had ever heard. She didn’t give him much regard as her eyes checked over her child, especially not when she turned her head to yell, "Baobei, cancel that taxi. She’s here," up the stairway.

"Good evening," Yixing greeted, bowing his head respectfully to the alpha and shifting Qian on his hip. "I called Yifan and he said he wasn’t able to bring her home, so I thought I would bring her to you."

The alpha looked him over a few times, the structure of her face very much the same as Yifan’s, especially around the eyes, and Yixing found himself taking comfort in the visual similarities - despite the slightly drawn-in harshness of her natural expression. Yet, it unnerved him, it was Yifan’s mother. One of the people his boyfriend cared about more than anything. Yixing had only ever met with Yifan’s step-father, who was as wonderful as Qian, but his mother was different. There had been a long time when it was only Yifan and her together, giving them something stronger than Yixing could imagine. He could only hope for her impression of him be one of positivity.

"Ah, Yixing," she hummed fondly, her face softened up with a gaze of subtle admiration, "the man both my children seem to love."

At the use of the word, _"love,"_ Yixing sought no other option than to hide his blushing face slightly more behind where the rounded part of Qian’s hair sat in front of his face.

"Come in, come in." She gestured with a wave her hand as she placed herself out of the way of the threshold. "We were just about to head down to the studio and see if either her or Benben were there, as we did a bit of panicking when we couldn’t get through to Benben and they weren’t home."

Choking back his shyness, Yixing managed to untuck himself from behind Qian for a moment to make sure he was heard when he said, "He got caught up at work, so I offered."

"Thank you, so much, Yixing." Yifan’s mother’s sincerity had Yixing’s panic dwindling back down to nothing but embers, the genuinely relieved and thankful hints to her expression were more than enough to settle the omega. "Why don’t I take Qiqi up to bed and then make a pot of tea, so then we can talk a little more?"

The alpha took the child from Yixing’s arms and cooed at her for a moment when the small omega nuzzled into the comforting scent of her mother. It had Yixing smiling and quickly, but gently, tucking one of those rogue strands that had brushed against his skin behind her ear. The gesture was full of affection, something Yixing knew he was showing on his face for Yifan’s mother to see.

She paced lightly away, beginning to ascend the stairs, before turning back to Yixing, being sure to tell him, "Take your shoes off and go sit in the kitchen, I’ll meet you there."

Yixing nodded his head and shuffled out of his shoes, tentatively following his nose to where he could pick out the remnants of a dinner that had been eaten earlier in the evening. The house, thought it was not overly big, was more than Yixing could probably afford. And, whilst he knew Yifan’s mother had a bit of family money, it wasn’t at all pretentiously furnished. Instead, everything was decorated to be homely, photos scattered around, all showing smiling faces and glimpses of lives much different to his own.

He slid onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar, twiddling his fingers and tapping his nails on the granite surface. He could smell Yifan almost everywhere, everything salty and earthy about his scent burrowed deep into materials, and he found himself longing for the source.

The sound of someone’s slippers hitting touching the hardwood flooring of the kitchen had him looking up and Yifan’s mother grinned at him before moving to the kettle, setting it to boil. She took some dried leaves and put them into the strainer of her teapot, pouring the boiled water onto them when the switch of the kettle had flicked itself off.

She placed two cups onto the side, in front of Yixing, and brought the teapot over, letting it brew for a few minutes before pouring them a drink each. It wasn’t an awkward silence, it was comfortable, the motherly aura around the alpha placated Yixing’s instincts.

"It’s so wonderful to finally meet you. Benben never shuts up about you and what you do together," she opened up with. "I feel like I already know you."

Yixing cringed as he lifted his cup from the table, "I hope they’re only good things."

"It’s not in Benben’s nature to speak badly of others, especially not about the people he adores." Yifan’s mother blew on the steaming liquid in her cup, dissolving the evaporation in the air around them. "He’s only said wonderful things. He really must love and admire you. If what he’s said about you is true, which it most likely is, I definitely approve of your relationship."

Yixing ducked his head down slightly, submitting to the fear that was gently chewed up in the pit of his stomach. "And my age, that doesn’t bother you?"

"Of course not!" The alpha put her cup down and moved her hands in front of her, appearing to wave away Yixing’s fears. "I was a little apprehensive at first, maybe. But, you’re good for him. Plus, Qian and my mate have met you more than enough times to back him up. Your age doesn’t matter to us, as long as you’re happy. Both of you."

Yixing smiled, he looked up at her for a moment and murmured a soft, "Thank you."

"I want you to feel welcome here," she reassured him. "I don’t want you to think you have to spend time with Benben at your apartment all the time. Even if it was just you coming over a night or two a week to have dinner with us. I would love to get to know you myself."

"I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you."

"Ah, don’t be so polite with me, it makes me feel so much older than I am." Her face pinched up into a playful grimace and Yixing could see exactly where Yifan got his tender, lighthearted nature from. "Talk to me casually, I’m not your boss."

 _But you’re my boyfriend’s mother_ , Yixing wanted to point out but, instead, he chose to mimic her in her casual comfort in the house, drinking up his tea until half the cup was left. He took those moments of quietness to relax himself even more. He sat up, his spine slightly straighter than it had been, and thought of something more to say.

"You keep calling Yifan ‘Benben’? Is he really that much of an idiot?" Yixing asked, his elbows leant against the side in inquisitiveness.

The grin that pushed apart her cheeks, especially when her teeth bit into her lip, had Yixing already giggling in his seat. She leant towards him and whispered, "He wasn’t very academically inclined all the way through school, he didn’t even know the difference between chemistry and biology until he was fifteen."

Yixing snorted mutely, but made sure to not say anything too teasingly to her in response, hoping his diplomatic, "I didn’t even go to proper school most of the time, so I’m not entirely sure I can be one to judge?"

"Were you homeschooled?"

"Oh, no. I went to ballet school from the age of around eleven, so whilst we did a lot of normal subjects, a lot more emphasis was put on dancing,"

"You always knew you wanted to be a ballet danseur?" She asked, shock colouring her tone and expression. "From that age?"

"Pretty much. I told my parents and my old teacher that’s what I wanted to do, they were all supportive and I was put into ballet school not long after that," Yixing recounted his story with fondness, remembering how quickly it had happened and how surreal it felt. "I’m lucky my parents were willing to put that much faith into my dancing. Especially since I’m sure they would have preferred for me to be an accountant or something."

"Do you think Qian would benefit from something like that? As I know you’ve said she’s got a natural talent."

Yixing nodded his head avidly, laughing as he did so, "She’s extremely good at ballet and I think she could do very well."

"I’m just, as your parents probably were, worried about what would happen if she wasn’t successful, if she fell out of love with it or if she was left with a serious injury. I would love to throw everything I have at what would make her happy, like I did with Benben. It’s just worrying, as a mother."

"I can understand that." Yixing could empathise with her, with her fears of not being able to secure her child’s future, no matter the outcome. "Still, that could be the same as any career. As long as she isn’t forced to continue if she doesn’t want to, then I think it would work out for her. But, you’ve got time to figure it out with her. Don’t worry about it now, not when there’s still years left to decide."

"Thank you, Yixing," the alpha reached her hand across the table, placing it on Yixing’s to accent her earnest gratitude. "And you’ll be there, not just as Qian’s teacher, to help us find our feet, too."

Yixing felt his nose tingle with emotion, her confidence hammered itself into his chest, bolstering his faith in his feelings for Yifan.

They spent a few more hours talking in the lounge, chatting casually after having moved from the kitchen. Some of Yifan’s baby photos were on Yixing’s lap, Yifan’s mother giggling in time with him as they sat next to each other on the sofa, when Yifan came in through the front door. Yixing could feel the gloomy cloud of exhaustion seep into the house, along with that coastal, earthy smell, before Yifan was even visible. He was tired and worn down.

"Xing," Yifan sighed happily.

With his face a shade of pink, Yixing felt mortified when Yifan went straight to him and nuzzled his face into his throat. Yifan’s mother only laughed harder as Yixing yelped whilst the photographs on his thighs fell down onto the carpet with a muted thud. Yifan was too busy scenting Yixing to mind that his mother was there.

"You two are so cute," Yifan’s mother cooed as she reached out to pet through Yifan’s hair and coax him away from Yixing. "But, Benben, you need to have a shower and go to bed."

"Yes, Mama," Yifan grumbled, taking his face out from under Yixing’s jaw and stretching as he stood upright again. "I’ll do it when Xing’s gone home."

"No need," she dismissed, frowning at Yifan. "He can stay here with us."

"I probably should go home," Yixing interjected. "I have to get up early for work in the morning, we’ve got a Korean idol coming in for me to work with. She lands at five and will be at the studio for half six, so I need to get there before her."

"Nonsense, you stay here with Yifan and we’ll make sure you get to work on time in the morning."

Yixing knew there was no room for arguing, not when Yifan tugged him up from where he was seated and began to drag him out of the room and up the stairs. Yixing followed Yifan past a few rooms until there was one that was saturated with Yifan’s scent.

"I’ll grab you a shirt to wear," Yifan tried to say, only for his sentenced to be hijacked by a yawn. Yixing sidled up behind Yifan and ran his hands up the alpha’s spine, using his touch to flood Yifan with a sense of serenity. "If you’re trying to make me too sleepy to function, you’re doing great at it."

"You’re tense," Yixing whispered.

"I’ve not been sleeping well. Even worse than before, in fact" Yifan huffed. He turned and wrapped his arms around Yixing’s waist, placed a few kisses on Yixing’s forehead and then rested there. "I don’t want to fight or squabble with you. It makes me feel miserable."

"Me, too," Yixing agreed. "I’m sorry for pushing you."

"I’m sorry for being such an ass about it. I know you only want what was best for me."

They hugged in the middle of Yifan’s room for a while, basking in the presence of the other until Yixing pulled back and encouraged Yifan to head to wherever the shower was. On his way out of the room, Yifan tossed Yixing one of his hoodies and promised to take Yixing’s stuff down to be washed in the utility room.

Energy seeped straight out of Yixing’s body as soon as he let himself under Yifan’s duvet. Being surrounded by everything that was _Yifan_ in the room was more than enough for Yixing’s body to want to slip out of the grips of consciousness and into slumber. Though, he kept himself awake until Yifan slid beneath the covers to latch onto the alpha as soon as he could reach him. Yifan seemed to have the same idea, as his arms found their usual resting place on Yixing’s side, but he held him more tightly.

Yixing could feel how Yifan wanted to talk to him, to go over everything that had happened in their time apart. Yixing placed his head onto Yifan’s chest and told him, "We’ll talk tomorrow. Let’s just sleep for now."

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yixing wasn't quite sure what to expect, putting Yifan and Lu Han in the same room.

He had expected some weird alpha dominance play wherein both of them would make themselves look like idiots by attempting to subtly square up to one another. Or maybe even awkward silence. He thought Minseok would be the glue that tried to stick the two of them together.

Instead, Yifan and Lu Han hit it off quickly, finding their feet in conversation together in their love for American clothing stores. Minseok looked ruffled, pressure coiled his muscles up tight, and he examined Yifan down to the very last detail. Yixing sat and blinked at them. Brand names flew straight over his head. Minseok's uncharacteristic scrutiny a constant hum in the back of his head. Yixing couldn't believe it.

Lu Han had always been the unnecessarily possessive one when it came to Yixing. Minseok had been laidback, befriending the rare person Yixing found time to date in Europe. With Yifan, something was different, as if he exuded an aura to Yixing's friends that he couldn't quite identify himself.

Yifan and Lu Han barking out in laughter had Yixing jolting in his seat, his fright only serving to make them guffaw louder.

"See, this is what someone going through a midlife crisis looks like," Lu Han stage whispered, causing Yifan's face to turn red as he crumpled up with each of his snorts.

"It's not a midlife crisis," Yixing found himself arguing back, indignant in his seat as his boyfriend and best friend picked fun at him. "I happen to be dating Yifan because I like him, not his age."

"I am a bit of a toyboy in this scenario, though, aren't I?" Yifan teased and Yixing scoffed in the back of his throat. "Admit it."

"Just because you're younger, doesn't mean you're a toyboy, Yifan," Yixing levelled Yifan with a look that was supposed to be a warning, but the smile that played on Yixing's lips as he watched Yifan's carefree happiness be spilt all around him.

It was like he was bracketed in yellow, like a small sunshine. Seeing Yifan like that reminded Yixing of beaches in the south of France in August - twinning brightness and seasalt together. Yixing adored it with all his heart.

"He smiled, you're off the hook," Lu Han told Yifan, earning him a kick from Yixing under the table. "But, it appears that I am not. Goddamn mate privileges."

At hearing the word _"mate",_ Yifan choked on his laughter and Yixing's, as well as Minseok's, eyes widened until a clear ring of white showed around their irises.

"Oh, I guess the m-word hasn't been dropped yet then." Lu Han's mouth twisted comically. To an untrained eye, his expression would have effectively deceived an onlooker. As it did with Yifan. Yixing, however, knew better. Minseok, too.

"You better say sorry," Minseok's voice was tight as he reprimanded his mate. "They're obviously not at that point yet and you've forced them into a position where they'll have to talk about it, prematurely."

"Oh, come on. You're talking like you didn't know you wanted to be my mate after six weeks. They've been dating for months." Lu Han grumbled, trying to imitate their children once they had been scolded. He sounded exactly like the reality - a full grown man trying to whine at his spouse until they caved. "They surely must know something. Yixing even thought about Yifan knotting him during his last heat, and we all know what that means."

"Lu Han!" Yixing exclaimed.

Yifan's face paled completely then flared up in pink, Yixing was much the same and Minseok was furiously muttering in Korean to Lu Han.

Yixing turned to Yifan and reached out his hand, holding the tips of Yifan's fingers with a cautious expression and a jumbled up series of sentences on the tip of his tongue. The words all fought to come out. But, Yixing couldn't find the right ones to say.

He couldn't think of anything at all, other than blind panic.

He didn't want to scare Yifan away.

He hadn't wanted Yifan to know anything about that until they were even more secure in what they had.

"I think I need a minute," Yifan muttered before standing up and hiding himself away in Yixing's bedroom.

Yixing rubbed his face, trying to keep himself as calm as he could, but all he saw in his mind was Yifan leaving and never coming back to his apartment. Minseok had quietened down and rubbed Yixing's spine with his palm, trying to bring him some comfort.

"I'm sorry, Xing," Lu Han mumbled, sound much more like the child he had been trying to imitate just prior. "I didn't realise that he didn't know."

"Of course he wouldn't know." The way Minseok retorted was like an audible eye roll. "They haven't even talked about mating yet. You know Yixing well enough to realise that he wouldn't let something like that spill unless he was certain of things."

Lu Han remained silent from then on, only humming when Minseok said it would be best for them to leave. Yixing could hear them having a small spat outside of his apartment as he strained to hear Yifan, to try to pick up on anything that could be happening in his bedroom. It took him a short while to collect himself enough to drag his feet into his bedroom, instantly seeing Yifan on his bed with his head in his hands.

Yixing crawled up the bed and folded his legs under his body, sitting within touching distance of Yifan but not letting them touch. Each of his instincts were telling him to comfort the alpha, he just didn't know how to do that. Nor did he want to embarrass himself by asking Yifan how to make things better.

So, he waited.

And, he did so patiently.

Observing how Yifan barely moved.

"Why did you tell him?" Yifan mumbled, so quietly and softly that Yixing almost missed it.

"He's my best friend, we talk about things," Yixing explained plainly, knowing Yifan would understand. "Like, how I talk with you."

"But I'm your boyfriend, Yixing," Yifan pointed out, the meaning in that clear to Yixing...

_There should be things you can tell me that you don't tell anyone else._

"I'm sorry. We hadn't been dating for long then, I was scared and nervous about it, so I told them." Yifan turned his head, eyes glittering ever so slightly and Yixing couldn't help but frown. "I get emotional after my heats and that doesn't just mean positive things, it's negative ones, too."

"I wish you told me, that kind of thing is important, Xing. Especially to me." Yifan's hands cupped his cheeks, tugging Yixing closer a few extra inches until the omega was practically on his lap. "If something scares you about our relationship, I want to know about it."

"So, you're not mad at me? Or, you know, scared off by it?"

"Xing, I want to be with you. I really, _really_ do." Yifan curled one side of his mouth up into a smile. "I would actually be a little worried if you thought about someone else during your heat whilst we are together. It's comforting knowing that you want to have babies with me."

"Oh my god, Yifan, shut up." Yixing burnt up with embarrassment. "It's embarrassing."

"It's not embarrassing to want me as your mate, Yixing," Yifan whispered, kissing Yixing's chin quickly before moving to his jaw. "Maybe we should just mate now and get it over with."

Yixing snorted as he wrapped his arms around Yifan's neck, "Don't be ridiculous."

"How about we practise then?"

Yixing pulled back for a moment and pretended to think about it, dramatic ummms and ahhhs leaving his mouth before Yifan pushed him back to the bed. The giggle that left the omega’s mouth flew out did so instinctively as Yifan began to undress him, it was only when they'd kissed a few times and Yifan was almost naked that Yixing said, "Practise makes perfect, right?"

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yixing was midway through one the routines he was doing with the idol that had visited the studio when his phone went off, cutting the music and causing everyone to stop doing what they were doing. Yixing scrambled across the room, picking up the phone and seeing that it was Yifan that was calling him. He answered it immediately, knowing that Yifan would have only been contacting him at that time of day if something was wrong.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Yixing's questions came out naturally as he tucked his phone under his ear and stepped out into the hallway.

 _"My father,"_ Yifan's voice was ridiculously frail, as if he was a terrified child, _"he turned up at Mama’s door. Apparently, he's in the city and he found out where we live through an old school friend.”_

"Oh, fuck," Yixing gaped. "Are you okay?"

_"No, I'm going home, I need to see what’s going on there. I was just calling to say that I wouldn't be over later. I know we had dinner plans but we’ll reschedule. I’m getting into my car now, so I’ll message you later on. I’m sorry, Xing."_

Yifan hung up not too long after that. Yixing wished he could say that things were going to be okay. Yet, hearing Yifan so distraught drive fear into the depths of his heart. Yixing felt his eyes sting, his nose itching slightly, the tears formed too quickly for him to realise it.

The hallway gave Yixing no cover as he hit his head on the wall, he groaned and looked at the calendar on his phone. It wasn't what he wanted, or needed in the lead up to his heat. He wanted to be able to sort things out with Yifan and prepare him for different things, instead, all he could do was worry.

He sent a few messages and voice notes Yifan's way, reassuring him that Yixing was there for him when he'd finished talking with his mother about things. That’s all he could do.

Yixing ate his dinner on his own, scolding himself for making too much rice - having grown so used to making it for two. He put some into the fridge with the full knowledge that he probably wouldn't end up eating it as leftovers the next day, he just didn't want to waste it because Yifan wasn't there. He already felt slightly useless. Which was only worsened when he looked at his phone screen, seeing no new messages there.

Suddenly, the life Yixing had when he was alone seemed all the more lonely. He didn't want to be the sole person in the apartment, he wanted the muted white noise having someone else there brought and he wanted someone to talk to.

He ended up turning the television on, setting it to a low volume, he scribbled down ideas for some more dances before giving. He went straight to bed, a sigh on his lips and an emptiness in his chest that he wished Yifan was there to fill. He wasn't, so Yixing huffed to himself and tried to get some sleep, the television still casting blue light in the living area.

Yixing didn't want to feel alone.

He didn’t want Yifan to either.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yifan’s arm dangled over Yixing’s shoulder, their bodies swayed with the subway car and Yixing had his head tucked in under Yifan’s jaw. He watched people around them, couples and friends and families all together, waiting for the route to grow busier. Yifan scrolled through his phone, checking his _Weibo_ and _WeChat ‘Moments’_ feeds. At times, Yixing took a peaking look at Yifan’s phone every so often, he never lingered for long, as what was going on around them captured Yixing’s interest a little more.

Yixing wrapped his arms around the alpha’s waist, having tucked them under Yifan’s open jacket, and hugged him tightly. No matter what country Yixing lived in, he had always hated subways. They were claustrophobic, even when empty. He found that being tucked up against Yifan’s side made him feel small enough to not have the illusion of things closing in around him.

“Cold?” Yifan asked him and he nodded. The alpha rubbed his hand on Yixing’s arm to spread the warmth of friction around his skin. “We’ll be back to your apartment soon. It won’t even be fifteen more minutes.”

Yixing huffed sharply, the hit of his breath on Yifan’s neck made Yifan flinch and hold him even tighter in response.

“Will you stay over tonight?” Yixing pouted, looking up at Yifan through the slight haze of his lashes.

“Not tonight.” Yifan hadn’t stayed over for almost four days, Yixing feel the little space in his chest grow with those two mere words. “My father still wants to see me and I don’t want him to turn up whilst Qian is there, he’s not the kind of alpha I want her to be used to being around.”

Yixing sighed and bowed his head, his longing sunk back into his head as he registered Yifan’s worries as if they were his own. If Yifan didn’t want his father around his sister, Yixing could only do his best to facilitate that. He just wanted Yifan to be there at his side at night, not on the other end of a phone.

Nevertheless, Yixing knew his clinginess was a byproduct of his pre-heat hormones, the ones that told him to cling to those who would care for him. The rest of their journey passed without words, trailing after one another as they naturally navigated their way from the metro station to Yixing’s apartment.

“Do you want to stay for dinner?”

“I can’t, Xing. I’m sorry.” Yifan mumbled whilst he took the lead in approaching Yixing’s apartment. “I said to Mama that I would help Qian with her art project homework. Plus, I don’t want to spend too much time away from him. My father really has my mother on edge with how badly he wants to see me each time he looks for me.”

“Well, he wouldn’t go searching for you there if you didn’t live there,” Yixing muttered in a way that he was sure showed that Yifan wasn’t supposed to have heard his verbalised thought. When Yifan turned to look up at him, ignoring the keycode pad at the side of the apartment building entrance. “What?”

“You said something.”

“I was just considering the idea that your father wouldn’t bother your family if you didn’t live there…”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m asking—”

“What’re you asking then?”

“You could live here?” Yixing tentatively posed, looking down at his feet with his fingers clutching Yifan’s as he twiddled them. “With me?”

“But that would mean that he could be around _you._ I don’t want that either.”

“There’s a difference, though, Fan. I’m an adult who can look after himself, Qian is a child, surely there’s a clear option here.” Yixing tugged on Yifan’s hand slightly. “It could be a temporary thing until your father has cooled off on his hovering.”

Quietness drifted between them for a long time. Yifan was clearly thinking things through. With the time that passed between Yixing’s offer being made and a response increasing steadily, Yixing prepared himself to say that Yifan had all the time he wanted to consider it. He opened his mouth, yet, the words that were shared into the space that divided them weren’t his own.

“Okay. I’ll move in with you.”

“Really?”

Yifan took Yixing’s hands into his own, halting Yixing’s fidgeting. “Yeah, after your heat, we’ll move my things in and sort out how to split the rent and bills.”

Yixing wasn’t sure how fast he and Yifan got up to the apartment but it could have been a record for both of them. It was quite the feat in Yixing’s mind, given how much they were kissing each other as they ran up the stairwell, trying to beat the elevator.

There was an air of disbelief to their actions as they made their way to Yixing’s bed. Though, that’s when they stopped. Yifan pulled back and looked Yixing seriously and intensely in the eyes. His irises and pupils slide from side to side as he read Yixing’s emotions in each one of his brown orbs.

“Your heat is soon, we probably shouldn’t celebrate this decision like _this_ ,” Yifan gestured down their bodies, where their hips had pressed together and their legs had twined up together. “I mean, what’s two days, right?”

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

It was two days later that lips kissing up Yixing's spine that woke him, not the gently fanned flames of his heat in the lowest chambers of his stomach that he had expected. Or the slightly aching cock between his legs. A hand ran up his thigh, pushing the warmth further around his body, and he sighed at the touch. Another hand was stroking through his hair, untangling where sleep had twisted the strands up together until the fingers could run through it smoothly.

"Good morning," Yifan's voice rumbled just beneath Yixing's ear, his breath touching above the vein that Yixing's blood flowed like lava through. There was a soft laugh in place of the words straight after, "Does my voice excite you that much?"

Yixing knew his scent must have been everywhere, but the heat controlled part of his brain had taken over his senses. All he could smell was Yifan's deeper alpha scent all around him, giving him comfort and giving him fire. He shifted a bit, tilting himself into his pillow, searching for the notes of his own shampoo in the hope of holding himself together just long enough to at least eat his breakfast. But that moved his legs, showing more of his back to Yifan, and Yifan's hand moved in accordance.

The fingers on Yixing's thigh slipped from the outer skin to the tender, paler sides on the inner part, prying Yixing's legs apart by a centimetre or two. Yifan nipped at Yixing's ear lobe and moved himself so his chest was pressed right up against Yixing's shoulder blades. Yifan's half hard cock pressed between Yixing's hips, the tip wet and cool from what Yixing assumed was pre-cum, contrasting the hell that was slowly feeding each Yixing's toes. Yifan's fingers didn't stop there, instead one of them dipped in past Yixing's rim and swirled around Yixing's evermore dampening walls. Again, Yixing sighed, feeling the tingles of pleasure instead of the warmth.

Yifan brought his finger out of Yixing for a moment, only to replace it with two that curled up within him, hoping to find the smooth surface of Yixing's prostate. Yixing let out a whimper, sliding his mouth open, when Yifan found his intended spot and circled it with the pads of his fingers. Yixing's cock pulsed faintly as it hardened even more, beginning to press up against his stomach as Yifan ground gently into where Yixing's tailbone was.

A third finger had Yixing's hips twitching, as it drove Yifan to press more directly onto his prostate and leave Yixing groaning into his pillow, eyes closing again. Yifan's fingers hooked into Yixing, rather than fucking him blindly, they alternated between rubbing directly onto his prostate and skimming around it, teasing Yixing into leaking to the point where it ran down Yifan's hand.

His heat didn't usually settle fully until midday. Yet, Yifan's touch inside him catapulted his arousal to the highest level with a few strokes. Yixing's hands could only grasp onto his pillow until his knuckles turned white as Yifan's fingers worked to propel him over the edge. It didn't help that Yifan's scent, too, had grown more potent. It was the alpha's reaction to Yixing's arousal, which had his hard cock pushed even more closely to Yixing's back, all the while his hips weakly thrusted up against Yixing's flesh. Yixing knew that pre-cum was being spread all up his spine, leaving a damply cold trail in its wake, which only felt colder as his skin burned up.

He was so sensitive to everything, even the way that Yifan's left hand remained in his hair, stroking, until it tenderly coaxed him into silently moaning into his pillow. His nerves stood on end with Yifan's body so near to his, his nose was tickled with the smell of sea salt and wood sage, both far cooler in essence to Yixing than everything about his own body. It was like he willed himself to claw Yifan under his skin, to be the icy water that would douse the fire until it was nothing but an evaporating mist.

Instead, he reacted to it. He circled his hips onto the pressure Yifan applied within him, hoping to feel them sink in and out of him, rather than just swirl in a way that didn't quite satisfy him.

"Be patient, Xing," Yifan breathed against Yixing's neck, causing a shudder to ripple through Yixing from head to toe. "You will cum soon, I promise."

Yixing nodded his head, feeling how the pillowcase under his cheek only grew hotter as he moved. It was getting to the stage when everything was growing uncomfortable, the only glimpse of solace showing itself as his body wound itself up under Yifan's every touch.

It wasn't long until Yixing's body moved to accommodate the pleasure he welcomed, hoping it would dislodge the discomfort of his heat out from his body. His right leg curled up the bed towards his chest and pressed there, opening his legs wider for Yifan to finger him from behind. His hips, having already been downturned, sank downwards to rub the tip of his cock against the bed sheets below him and he could feel the wetness of his pre-cum erupting down onto the fabric.

Yifan, too, seemed to benefit from Yixing's positioning, shifting down until his cock was pressed up against the fleshy part of Yixing's backside, making his fingers press into Yixing until Yifan's knuckle stopped him from going in any further. Yixing cried out as that happened, prompting Yifan to keep his fingers crooked as he thrust them into Yixing, only to draw them out at an agonisingly slow pace. With a no sense of urgency, Yifan was nudging Yixing towards a more mindless state of pleasure, one where his eyes flooded with water and his mouth called out for Yifan to do more.

That moment came faster than expected. A sob had managed to find its way into Yixing's throat and it hiccupped out between his lips, his nose prickled as his

"Please just fuck me," he whimpered, one of his hands flinging back to Yifan's waist, hoping to tug him closer. "Or let me cum. Please, Yifan."

Yifan didn't reply, not in words. Instead, he followed through with his actions. Yifan twisted his hand around, making it so it was in a more comfortable position for him, which made Yixing thrum in excitement. Quickly after that, Yifan's three fingers were urged in and out of Yixing's slick covered hole, Yixing's prostate being brushed over by the backs of the digits, the slight bend to Yifan's fingers making the prominent joint rub where Yixing was most sensitive.

Yixing bent his head back, feeling the crown of his head rest on Yifan's forehead as he gulped to have more air into his lungs. It was Yifan's pelvis that was working double time, forcing Yixing's to move in time with him, having Yixing's cock thrust all the more powerfully into the mattress below. It built Yixing up with a desperation that only spiralled faster and faster upwards, until his hips twitched and cum spurted out onto the sheets, Yifan's fingers returning to Yixing's prostate to help him through the first body shuddering orgasm of his heat.

He felt some of the fire fade away whilst his joints liquified and left him with fluttering eyelids. His fingers and toes were numb from the sensations within his body. He could feel the tears break away from his eyes as he gasped for air. Yifan moved his hand from Yixing's ass, using that arm to pull Yixing close to him and have their bodies moulded together until the aftershocks had loosened their grips on Yixing. They laid there for a few moments, just catching their breaths, Yifan tilting his body away from Yixing's. Yixing assumed it was to remove the temptation to continue seeking pleasure from Yixing's body when he wasn't quite ready for anything else.

"Think you can get up to have some breakfast?" Yifan asked, kissing behind Yixing's ear and turning the omega over so that he wasn't slumped in his own cum. Yixing shook his head, so Yifan nodded his. "I'll get up and get you something, then. Just stay here and I'll do it for you."

With his heat perched slightly further back in his mind, Yixing managed to crack a smile whilst Yifan cleaned him up with a warmly wet cloth. He watched the alpha leave the room and turned over, seeking refuge on the Yifan's side of the bed where it smelt strongest of Yifan, and where Yixing wouldn't have had to lay in his own cum.

Yifan returned with a bowl and Yixing went to sit up, but Yifan beat him to it. He had placed Yixing's breakfast down on his bedside cabinet and put his hands under Yixing's knees and behind his back, placing Yixing upright in the bed.

Yixing grinned and caught Yifan's hands as he drew them away, "Hey, you don't have to do _everything_ for me."

"Oh. I guess my ex-girlfriend was a bit of a princess then." Yifan stood upright, unabashedly naked and still visibly hard, but the scratch he placed on the back of his neck softened Yixing's heart up. "She made me do everything."

Yixing laughed, hoping to keep the fluttering in his chest but the heat controlled part of his brain, even with it hushed down slightly by Yixing's orgasm, felt a spark of jealousy. Well aware that his irrationality was piping up, Yixing made an effort to ignore it. He was an adult, not a whiny teenager who dripped with jealousy at the mere mention of his boyfriend's ex. Still, a part of him sulked. He didn't want to go into his heat thinking about Yifan being with someone else.

But the more he thought about Yifan taking care of another omega like they belonged together, the more he felt something he never had before. Possessiveness was something he had only paired with alphas, and yet there it was in every fibre of his being. He'd never been like that, not with anybody in the world. He wondered if it really was just his heat putting thoughts into his head, or if there was an ounce of truth in it that he had been denying. It wasn't normal for him to get such a rushed need to claim someone for himself.

It all left a terribly bitter taste in his mouth.

"Kiss me," he demanded, tugging on Yifan's hands until the alpha's face was in line with his.

Yifan didn't even try to shake off Yixing's grip, he was already kissing Yixing so hard that Yixing's nose pressed into the skin next to Yifan's. Yixing knew his scent was returning to its potency, the jealous part of his brain taking over, removing his ability to stay clear headed. He could only think of wanting to have Yifan only consider him, too. He wanted to be the centre of Yifan's world, even if it was only for the duration of his heat.

As they kissed, Yixing's brain hissed in satisfaction, pulsing more fiery blood through his system and his legs slipped open, slick already warming his backside and his cock hardening itself up. He could smell the intense scent of Yifan's arousal increase as Yixing's did. He knew he had to have Yifan pressed up against him again, needing to twine them up until they were even closer than they had been before.

"Forget breakfast," he mumbled, dropping Yifan's hands in favour of pulling his body with full force down onto his. "I need you to fuck me."

"Xing, you should really ea—"

"Don't want that right now, I want you," he interrupted, hooking both his legs around Yifan's hips and pressing up onto Yifan's hard cock.

"But you need to—," Yixing ground upwards, his cock meeting with Yifan and sparking a groan from both of them.

Yixing kissed down Yifan's neck and bit it slightly, smiling when Yifan moaned as he was the one in heat.

Yifan gasped, "It can wait."

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

The feeling of Yixing’s heat scorched beneath his skin, each one of his blood vessels stung under the lashes of fire his heart beat around. Heats were almost feverish for him. Though, instead of craving rest and relaxation, Yixing wanted to be filled until his brain fooled him with the illusion of being bred. Yifan was considerate of his every need, pushing Yixing back and forth between his limits like a metronome.

Yifan was gentle in the way he handled Yixing when his emotions had turned raw; he was rough when Yixing’s heat twisted so tightly around his mind that all he could think about was sex. He was what Yixing needed. His presence didn’t feel foreign, nor did his scent dizzy Yixing like most other alpha’s did. The cool freshness that surrounded Yifan drove shivers down Yixing’s body, he drew Yifan closer with each sniff and smell and he wished he could suffuse himself into Yifan. Or, Yifan into him.

Yixing’s wants came in droves, pushing him until he couldn’t do anything but grab Yifan and keep them connected.

An hour after Yixing ate lunch on the third day, he was struck by another hunger. They’d been sat on the floor in the kitchen, Yixing draped in Yifan’s shirt and Yifan in his loose basketball shorts, empty plates and bowls surrounded them.

Yifan made an _‘oof’_ noise when Yixing sat on his lap, Yixing’s hands roamed everywhere and sweat drenched in his hair. As instantly as Yifan caught on, Yixing was always a second ahead of him. Before Yifan could even react to his shorts being pulled down, Yixing was gripping his cock tightly. Yixing held it with both hands and dragged them up and down slowly. Yifan’s head rolled back against the cupboards, breath huffing out of his nose onto Yixing’s lips and his fingers hiking up the shirt around Yixing’s waist.

Yixing felt the base of Yifan’s cock begin to swell, it was a gradual process and he loved watching it happen. An alpha’s knot was something Yixing had always been curious about, having never been in the position to be knotted by one, and he found himself fixated on Yifan’s.

It didn’t take too long for Yixing lean towards Yifan’s chest and position himself above his cock, he felt Yifan’s mouth open as the head breached Yixing. Yixing could feel the blood pulsing sharply in Yifan’s dick, flooding his knot and stretching Yixing in the ways he wanted to be.

From the times before, Yixing still knew there was a long way to go until Yifan was big enough to quell that scorching he felt all over. He knew he had to chase it for himself, riding Yifan’s cock with his head resting against the alpha’s shoulder. They were so close that Yixing’s dick rubbed on Yifan’s stomach. The trail of pre-cum he left was cold at first but it heated up with the more contact they had with it, it was a delight for Yixing to feel that slide on the sensitive tip of his dick.

Yifan nuzzled into Yixing’s throat, mouthing at it, and Yixing let his mouth gape at the sparking sensation he felt there.

Words slipped out in a low stutter, “Alpha, alph— _mate_ , _mate_ , bite me. Bite me.”

Yixing felt Yifan’s mouth open at the word _‘mate’_ , his teeth skimming against the tender part where his mark would go. Yixing pushed himself into the pointed incisors, hoping they would break the skin, but Yifan dragged them down to Yixing’s shoulder. A whine bled out of Yixing, his wish of being bitten dangled tantalisingly in front of him only to be withdrawn.

He begged more and more, hoping for Yifan to cave in and actually do it.

He grabbed Yifan’s face, his fingers cupped Yifan’s cheeks and rubbed their noses together. He kept his hips rocking on Yifan’s cock and kissed him once.

“Mate with me,” Yixing pleaded, his eyes stung with the ever expanding stretch of the knot. “Please, I want to be mated with you.”

“Not now,” Yifan groaned with his own eyes shut. “Another day. Soon.”

Yixing whimpered and slowed the movements of his body, causing Yifan to open his eyes, “Now.”

“Xing—”

“ _Mate_ , please.”

Yifan didn’t respond. Nor did he seem like he was about to. What he did do was push Yixing backwards until his shoulders touched the floor and Yifan loomed over him. The pace Yixing had set was kept, though instead of it being purely slow, Yifan twisted some sensuality into it.

Kisses were interspersed between their thrusts, their fingers searching for each other until their hands were held in the other’s up either side of Yixing’s head. The omega’s legs were hooked around the alpha’s waist, keeping them connected as they rocked together. There was an intensity to it that Yixing found helped his heat, a connection in the warmth of their bodies joining until they were both under the rapturous spell of the other.

Yixing came gently, his tired body only pulsing one or two strings of cum from him, and with a kiss to swallow down the stutter in his breath. Yifan took a while longer than that, his knot had Yixing’s thighs trembling with oversensitivity and his toes curling his feet right around. Yixing felt only bliss in his stomach.

When their kisses ended and the alpha was roping his own cum into omega’s body, the alpha drew himself back.

“We’ll mate soon.” His voice was softened and weakened by his orgasm. His hands were trembling in Yixing’s, knot rubbing Yixing’s prostate with each small movement of his body. “I promise you.”

 _“Mate.”_ Yixing found himself sobbing, not exactly sure which thing it was over - the oversensitivity, the meaning of Yifan’s words or the constant rippling of his want to be mated by Yifan. Or, a mix of the three. “I want to. I want to.”

Yifan kissed away all of the tears that dribbled down, tenderly and lovingly.

Yixing had been fearful when he’d retired from dancing that he would never want something so passionately again. But then each time he looked at Yifan, or felt his skin, or breathed in his scent, Yixing felt that passion anew. He wanted Yifan to be a part of him forever.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

All Yixing wanted to do was make Yifan feel good, to let him receive some of the intense pleasure Yixing had been gifted throughout the week. Maybe it was instinctual, trying to make your heat partner feel satisfied too. Maybe it was Yixing’s want for Yifan to be happy. Either way, Yixing sat on the floor next to the bed, between Yifan’s legs with the alpha’s cock in his mouth.

Yifan’s fingers were wound tightly in Yixing’s hair as he bobbed his head, hand holding the slight swell of Yifan’s knot, massaging it. It was sloppy, spittle coated on lips and tongue, and Yixing felt himself preen at the pitched whines Yifan didn’t seem to be aware he was making. The alpha’s eyes were glazed, hooded and so darkly focused on Yixing’s that the omega could still see them through the distorting rim of tears on his own lower lashline.

Feeling himself grow all the more aroused at the sight of Yifan’s pleasure, Yixing’s cock twitched and slick began to spread out of himself. As if by heat-driven instinct, Yixing’s free hand moved down from where it rested on Yifan’s thigh, he pressed three fingers into his stretched hole and thrust them about blindly.

He found that his hips bobbed upwards and downwards, riding his own fingers in time with how he was blowing Yifan. Yixing moaned, feeling himself smile when the vibration of it had Yifan’s cock twitching on his tongue.

Much like Yixing’s, Yifan’s body, too, decided to move on its own. He gently thrust into Yixing’s mouth, catching on his gag reflex a few times and shuddering whenever he felt it on his cock.

It was impossible for the omega not to adore bringing pleasure to Yifan, it made his own chasing for heat-subduing satisfaction all the more sweeter tasting. The fingers inside him didn't feel as good at Yifan's, they nowhere near rivalled them in size, but Yixing knew what he liked, knew how to delve into himself to pull everything apart.

He had half a mind to wonder if it would be the same for him - if Yixing could successfully work him up to the point of bursting in body shaking sensations.

With a firm suck, Yixing released Yifan and told him to lay flat on the mattress, he stated, "I'm gonna finger you."

Yifan's eyes widened with shock then, as Yixing made sure to soothe him, he did as Yixing had asked of him. Yixing licked his lips at the image of Yifan even spreading his legs a little further apart for the omega to draw even closer.

Yixing, with his fingers coated in his own slick, rubbed Yifan's hole and gently probed inwards with his index finger. Yifan jolted a few times, each unknown swipe Yixing made inside him a new foreign feeling. Yixing mouthed at the base of his cock to relax him. It worked like a charm, as not too long after, the alpha let out a couple sighs of delight.

A few chants of his name and an uncomfortable shuffle were the replies Yixing's second finger got. He wanted to take his lips from Yifan's dick to watch his fingers drag in and out of his boyfriend. Yet, the taste of himself and Yifan's cum on the bump of Yifan's knot was too addicting for Yixing not to lick, meaning he kept his face firmly connected to Yifan's cock.

The third finger was enough to get Yifan's hips rocking. He was more vocal, too. He groaned about how good it felt, how much he loved how Yixing was touching him, and the want to please Yifan emboldened himself.

He quickly drew Yifan's cock between his lips and took him in as deep as he could without reaching his knot. The alpha's hands pulled at Yixing's hair when they landed there, that was when the omega let himself go lax and used his tongue to welcome more earnestly into his mouth. Yifan began to twitch and stumble over Yixing's name as he moaned it, holding Yixing's face in place until he could thrust himself.

Even with it being his first time letting someone do it, Yixing found himself enjoying how Yifan used his mouth. It felt filthy enough that his heat held him so tightly around his brain. He wanted to drive Yifan to the brink, like the alpha had done for him. However, he wanted to do it with him. He wanted them to both teeter over with toe curling and eye whiting orgasms.

That thought was put onto the backburner as Yifan's knot expanded beneath Yixing's lips. He wanted to drink Yifan's cum down, hoping that would quell the ever growing hunger for more he had in his stomach. A part of him  _thirsted_ for it. He never had craved someone so much before. Yifan did something extraordinary to Yixing.

The omega continued to finger him, touching where he was certain Yifan's prostate was, hooking his fingers up and around to brush on it. Yifan only grew more responsive to the touches.

Yifan came with a loud cry of Yixing's name, something the omega relished in as he gulped it all down, feeling that void fill.

The knot was so big when he freed his hands to touch it, the firmness of it had Yixing marvelling at the sight of it. Before he even realised it himself, he was climbing on top of Yifan and aligning himself to where Yifan's cock was still knot hardened.

Yixing went slack as it penetrated him, not even flinching as the knot went past his rim and straight into him. He couldn't believe how good it felt to have that thickness there, mixing Yifan's cum with his fresh slick. It was different to having it expand within him. It was just pure pleasure that forced its way around his body. He didn't want to relinquish Yifan. He gripped even tighter when he began to ride the knot, his hands on Yifan's stomach to balance himself.

The alpha was the definition of blissed out when Yixing looked down at him, his eyes flickering and fingers trembling. Yixing reached out and grabbed Yifan's wrists, he brought them to his waist and Yifan immediately latched onto him. Yixing thought it would help ground him, but it merely pushed more of Yifan's scent up into his nose.

He really should not believe the sensations he was feeling.

All he could achieve was a lamely and limply exhaled, "Fuck. Feels so good."

Yixing ground the knot inside him, focused on chasing the increasing pressure it built up when it rubbed and circled his prostate. He absolutely adored Yifan's knot. He wasn't sure if he could go back to fucking without it. That mere thought had him

"Can't wait 'til you're breeding me."

Yifan's hands on his waist held on so tightly that Yixing was sure the finger marks would be there for days to come. "Shit, Xing. If you say stuff like that, I'll cum again."

"Yes," Yixing nodded his head. "More cum. Want to be yours. Want to have your—"

Yixing's words were cut off when he felt Yifan's knot twitch over and over again, a different warmth pushed itself inside of him, and he knew Yifan had managed to cum once more. He rode the alpha faster, going hard enough that his own cock bobbed up and down, hitting his stomach. Yixing chased his own orgasm with so much fervor, getting off to the sounds of Yifan's oversensitive whimpers.

That's how it stayed until Yixing came, his cock spurting in jets of translucent white over his skin and Yifan's. He had his head tilted back, mouth open, body limp, as he tried to grind his way through the pulsing aftershocks of his orgasm.

Yifan's hands caught him as he sagged forward suddenly, all energy drained from him as his limbs shook with so much intensity.

It was Yifan that moved them, turning and shifting them until they were spooning, Yifan's knot still inside Yixing as the omega drifted off to have a short nap. Though, for the both of them, the respite was only given in short intervals. Yixing found himself tangled up with Yifan again barely an hour later, hoping to pry another knot out of his boyfriend.

Yixing was in heat bliss with Yifan at his side.

He could not have wished for anything more.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yifan cuddled up to Yixing's side, running his hand up and down Yixing's outer thigh, trying to soothe him as he hiccupped around his words.

"I'm just really happy," Yixing found himself sobbing into Yifan's shoulder. "I don't know what I've done to deserve this."

If he was honest to himself, Yixing wasn't sure how he had managed to work himself up into that state. He was blotchy in the face and damp eyed. He had only been awake for five minutes. Yifan, as always, took it in his stride and tried to do everything he could to make Yixing stop crying. He was just so exhausted and emotionally raw. He didn't know how to stop it himself.

As it happened, what Yixing had needed was to be fed and swaddled up in a duvet as he preened at how potent Yifan's scent was around the apartment. But, still, he knew his mood swings would drag out.

He apologised time and time again for his reactions to small things - crying at the puppy on the soap advert had been a step too far in his mind - and he knew Yifan really was his mate when he told him it was all okay. Yixing's heart only grew larger in its feelings for Yifan, creating a warm ocean of emotion to lap at where arousal had been embedded for days.

"I guess you're all moved in then now," Yixing hummed over their shared take out dishes. Yifan nodded his head, looking at the photographs that sat on Yixing's window sill, beside the ones of Yixing and his family. "You've always been able to do as you wanted here. But, you know, if you want to invite friends over, they can come. I don't want you to feel like you're living in _my_ apartment. I want it to be _ours_."

Yifan cooed and pinched Yixing's cheek, "You're the cutest."

"I'm not trying to be cute here." Yixing frowned. "I'm trying to have an adult conversation with you about how you should treat this place as home."

"You told me all of this before your heat, Yixing. I think I've got it." Yifan was grinning at him when he leant in to kiss Yixing's cheek. "We're going to be mated soon, I'd like to think we can share more than just an apartment."

At the idea of them mating, Yixing's face flushed and his scent unleashed itself. "Ah, don't say things like that so casually."

"You were the one that was begging me to mate you. I think the word _'breed'_ was also thrown around quite a bit." Yifan was teasing him and Yixing couldn't keep himself from smiling at it through the embarrassment that branded him. "I didn't know you wanted a family that bad."

Yixing gaped and buried his head in a pillow, not wanting to face what his boyfriend had said. Or wanting to consider what he, himself, had uttered in the hazy fog of heat. He'd been so in love, so comforted by Yifan being there, that he wanted everything all at once. "Do you have to talk like that?"

"You mean speak honestly with the man I am pretty certain I'll spend the rest of my life with?" Yifan challenged and Yixing threw the pillow at him, pouting. "You really are adorable."

"Am not," Yixing whined, throwing himself towards Yifan and burrowing under his arms.

"When Minseok messaged me to say that you're cute right after your heat, I really did not expect it to be quite this bad."

"Oh, shush," Yixing bit out, holding Yifan's waist. "I feel like I'm a teenager again. I'm almost thirty, for crying out loud!"

When they went back to watching the television, Yixing was sure he would fall asleep until Yifan moved in closer, then put his lips to Yixing's ear.

"Soon," Yifan whispered directly onto Yixing's lobe, "we'll have all of that, I promise you."

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yixing smelt him long before he saw him. It dominated over the scents Yixing was used to, the fresh, cleaner ones that would wash his senses anew. It was what Yixing would define as sensorily oppressive, especially for omegas like him. Kyara incense, amber and ginger had never been something he wanted to surround himself with. Yet, there it was, right outside.

He had his eye up to the peephole in his door when he saw a man appear, he was an inch or two shorter than Yifan but his build wasn’t on the slender side, like Yifan’s. He was what Yixing had always considered to be a typical alpha, everything about him was imposing and Yixing’s hand trembled as it clung to his door handle.

He could hear Yifan’s voice, though he wasn’t at the door yet. He sounded frantic, like he had no hold on the situation, which only left Yixing to panic over the nature of the visit. Even without coming face to face with the alpha, Yixing wanted to tuck himself behind Yifan and peek over his shoulder from that point of safety.

Instead, Yixing stepped back. He went far enough back to escape the scent that was invading his home and took in a deep breath, filling his lungs with the imprinted smell of Yifan that clung to the air and textiles in the apartment. It bolstered him just enough to head back to the entryway when a thunderous banging of a fist on wood echoed around the corners of the apartment.

Yixing didn’t spare a moment in opening the door, his nose trying to find Yifan’s scent over the cacophony of migraine inducing smells that flooded towards him. With a sharp butt of an elbow, Yixing was pushed out of way, leaving him to stumble against the wall with a winded gasp in his throat. Yifan’s hands were on his shoulders in an instant, righting his posture and unclouding Yixing’s mind from the clench of the darkening scent.

"I’m sorry," Yifan whispered to him and Yixing nodded his head, reaching for Yifan’s hand to weave their fingers together.

"Yifan," a voice rumbled, even deeper and terrifying than Yixing could ever imagine Yifan’s being. "Is this where you’ve been living?"

"Yes, Kuang Jian," Yifan voiced, leaning in to kiss Yixing’s cheek gently, pulling away as the other alpha turned to look at them.

"It’s okay," Yixing reassured Yifan, stepping away, "we can deal with this."

"Hello, Kuang Jian." Yixing bowed politely, folding at the hip to go the full ninety degrees. "I am Zhang Yixing."

"You’re his omega?" Jian posed to Yifan, his eyes scrutinising Yixing in every detail.

"Leave him alone, Jian," Yifan’s mother grit out, appearing in the doorway and stepping in past both Yifan and Yixing. "I don’t know why you’re so caught up in this."

"I don’t get to see my son for his whole life and you expect me to just roll over, take it and accept it, as if _this_ is good enough for him?" Jian glowered down at her, aggression tensing his muscles, like any alpha who felt their authority was questioned.

Yixing’s fingers sought for Yifan’s hand, gripping it so tightly that he was sure he would soon hear a crunch from Yifan’s bones. It was impossible for him to determine the outcome, not with three alphas in the tight hallway of his apartment. His head began to pound with the thick, choking quality of Jian’s scent, and his knees jammed rigidly into place beneath his thighs, keeping him upright.

"Do you have to do this here?" Yifan’s mother glanced over her shoulder at Yixing, sending him nothing short of an apologetic curl of her lips. "This really is not the time."

"You don’t have any control over whether or not I want to see my son, not anymore. I will choose when the time is right for me." Yixing saw the way Yifan’s mother cowered back from Jian an inch or two, her instincts tell her not to challenge the most dominant person in the room.

Yixing knew that Yifan saw it too, given how he knew that if Yifan were an animal or beast, his hackles would be raised, all to frame a snarl. It jolted Yixing when Yifan stepped forward to pull his mother back, it placed her at Yifan’s side and just in front of Yixing. It was the omega who peered through the gap between them, drawing in gulps of their soothing scents.

"Don’t you think I should be able to decide for myself what I do with my life? And if I even want you in it?" Yifan rumbled in a voice that Yixing had never heard him use before, giving him an uncharacteristic dominance lilt to what he had said. "I don’t want you here. I don’t want you near my family."

The smirk, and its accompanying laugh, that Jian wore was one that Yixing knew even Yifan would pull away from. Yixing waited for his own fear to hit, but it didn’t. Something different, a newly foreign emotion sung in his veins and it tightened something, pressure rising in his body. And even if he wasn’t sure what it was, he knew it would burst.

"You think you really control your life, _Yifan_ ? Like everything you are wasn’t given to you by _me._ " Jian moved to draw closer to them all and Yixing still didn’t have the adrenaline heavy sensation of being scared under his skin. That band of emotion within him was only yanked further from its anchor. Jian’s eyes slipped down to Yixing, that smirk widening. "Don’t be so confident when I can take everything you love away from you."

"How dare you?" Yixing felt that tension within him snap, stepping in front of Yifan and his mother, filling in the sudden silence. It went against all of his instincts to be that way, he wanted to soothe all of the tension in the room, but the frustration within himself was too strong to ignore. "How dare you come to my home and act this way?"

Yixing could see the shock evident on Jian’s face, he’d obviously expected Yixing to be the kind to stay cowered away and let the alphas take the brunt of his aggressive tirade.

"I will not stand for you intimidating my mate and his mother in my home. I do not care about who you think you are, I do not care that you think you can come into someone’s home. What I care about is why you are standing under my roof, acting like you own this place. This is not your territory, Mr Kuang. It is mine. And I would like you to leave, right now."

Jian stuttered, fumbling for words as his eyes blinked dozens of times over.

"Can you not walk, Mr Kuang? Do I have to make you leave myself?" Yixing threatened, breathing heavily. "Get out. _My_ home is not your domain, I never welcomed you here. You were not invited. Now you need to leave."

It took a few more seconds for the anger to seep into Jian’s mind but Yixing stood firmly in front of him. He would not budge as he stared up at the alpha, not letting their height difference detract from the fact that he was staring him down. Yixing didn’t let the fury rolling through the alpha’s scent daunt him. Instead, he focused on keeping his own anger tightly to his own chest. He could feel it pulse and tingle through his body. And he knew he would be immovable in that sense.

It was one of the most intense moments of his life. Fear should have curled up in the bottom of his stomach and choke up in his throat. Still, it didn’t. There was something else, the sharp sword of protectiveness unsheathing itself for the first time. He was trembling under the pressure of it all, quaking as the stress of acrimony set itself into the depths of his body, and he only relieved himself of the strain when Jian took a step back.

He did not appear overawed by Yixing’s reaction but there was shock there, underpinning how his feet took him stumbling backwards out of Yixing’s door. The palm that pressed flat against his back made him jolt until images of the coast flashed through his mind, all through his nose. Yifan’s touch made Yixing curl into the alpha, anxiety and dread overwhelming him until his fingers curled into the chest of Yifan’s sweater.

"It’s okay, Xing," Yifan soothed. "It’s okay."

Yixing nodded his head, taking himself away from Yifan and retreating inwardly in his mind. The strength of his mood swung from left to right, making him wish to do nothing more than scurry to his bedroom and hide beneath his duvet. Hopefully, with Yifan’s body pressed to his.

Fully aware that Yifan’s mother was present, Yixing attempted to retain his strength and keep his head held high. He straightened himself with ease, his spine unfurled itself naturally into the pose he undertook in mirrored studios and european stages, hoping it would be enough to fool her. He knew Yifan would see right through the performance he showed.

"I'm so sorry, Yixing. If I'd have known that he would come to your ho—"

Yixing painted on a smile and interrupted Yifan's mother as she worried, pushing her hand to her forehead, "It's no worry."

"But, it's so close to the end of your heat," she hummed thoughtfully, moving forward to touch Yixing's cheek. There was a twitch to Yifan's arm, his hand jolting up to halt her movements as she moved towards Yixing. "Oh, sorry."

"I'm sorry, Mama," Yifan murmured, taking hold of her fingers in a gentle hold. "I know you'd never hurt Yixing."

As she always did, she smiled at her son and Yixing smiled at her. He loved watching their relationship, knowing how close they were and knowing how much Yifan always wanted to do for her. So, it was telling that Yifan wouldn't even want her to touch Yixing, especially when tensions had been so high moments before. Plus, Yixing knew the remnants of his heat were still toying with Yifan's emotions. But, the actions seemed to do the trick.

Yifan's mother left with a flying kiss to her son's cheek and a small kiss blown in Yixing's direction, her scent disappearing down the hallway with her. It left Yixing to deflate and follow his instincts, scuttling away from Yifan and seeking refuge under the freshly washed sheets. But, even then, Yixing could pick up on where Yifan’s residual scent clung to the furniture itself, unpeeling away each layer of the confidence he’d shown in the presence of Jian.

It didn’t take long for the seesaw of his heat emotions to shift right to the other end of the spectrum. His fingers trembled as he held the duvet between them, his lips tremoring as his nose stung with the tears that flooded his eyes.

"Hey, hey," Yifan called out, his voice growing louder as he rushed into the bedroom after Yixing, "don’t cry. It’s okay. We’re okay."

Yifan’s hands found him beneath the covers, pulled him out from beneath them and ran over his wet cheeks, all as Yixing strained to suddenly get closer to Yifan. To find home and safety in sea salt and wood sage.

"It’s okay, Xing. It’s okay," Yifan whispered into his hair, his hot breath warming the skin of Yixing’s scalp as he blew onto it.

Yixing nodded his head, believing the words and taking comfort in them. It didn’t take long for the tears to cease. With his body limply pressed to Yifan’s, there was only exhaustion left in the wake of an emotion torrent, his natural post-heat state.

With a few kisses pressed into his forehead, Yifan laid him back out on the bed and took his clothes off his body one by one, only leaving Yixing’s side to remove his own. Yixing didn’t even have time to feel the chill before he was encased in the duvet and the heavy heat of Yifan’s body.

"I would never let anything happen to you," Yifan muttered in a hushed promise. "I know you would never let anything happen to me. But, I’m sorry that I led him here. I don’t want you to feel unsafe in your own home."

Yixing turned over in the tangle of Yifan’s arms and gently skimmed his lips against Yifan’s throat, tracing his Adam’s apple with the gentle brush of their skin.

A few blinks went past and Yixing hummed, "You’re  _‘home’_ now, Yifan. I’m safe wherever you are."

And he let Yifan kiss him, strong and firm to the mouth. All because he knew there was more than one way to say, "I love you," without using the phrase once.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Yifan's things didn't clutter Yixing's apartment, he found. In actuality, Yixing loved how his wardrobe looked far less bare, as it was stuffed full of each of Yifan's items of clothing. Even those empty drawers Yixing hadn't been able to fill were brimming with Yifan's possessions. It made Yifan's scent seem permanent around him, like it had always been there. Like it belonged there, right by Yixing's side.

It was great, too, to have someone to pick him up from work when he practised late into the night with his clients. He could also see Yifan using it as a time to network, talking with managers and stylists of idols and celebrities that visited, it made him so happy. Yixing was glad that his late nights, coupled with headaches and sweat-sticky clothing. But Yifan never minded that, he always had a smile on his lips and his arms wide open for Yixing to deflate into. It felt normal, like something Yixing could do tirelessly for the rest of his life.

A few times, when the studios were empty, Yixing would show Yifan his performances he had once done. He felt guilty that Yifan couldn't ever witness him perform, as it would have been something he would have loved to have done. He would have wanted to shine brightly under the gaze of his boyfriend - or, soon-to-be mate - and he discovered a blooming love within himself again. He wanted to have Yifan see, and know, what he could do. What he used to do on a global level. And his heart ached that he couldn't let Yifan witness it in full in real life. Yixing wanted to display plainly, clearly, and beautifully something he loved to the person he loved. That was the fire of zeal that was inside of him again. The artery, the lifeline to, his passion had revived. 

Still, it was stunted by what he couldn't do.

He couldn't show Yifan the outfits, the synchronisation, the stage, the absolute beauty, grace and glamour of it.

Then he would stop dancing, with his body and lungs burning with exertion, and look at Yifan. 

And Yifan would have love and wonder in his eyes. It put that small resentment of what he couldn't firmly into a chained up box. Yixing, even with their difference in age, was everything Yifan adored and he gave Yixing a stage. Yifan was Yixing's audience of one. The sun in the sky that always looked at him with warmth as that earthy, salt water scent floated all about him.

It was enough.

Not only did Yifan just spark his curiosity in mating,  he rekindled a love Yixing had once loved.

It was definitely, more than enough.

 

☀☀☀☀☀

 

Every person in the house’s back garden sang happy birthday, each watching a girl with gapped-teeth grin as her name was sung and how her mouth pinched into an ‘o’ shape to blow out candles. Yixing cheered and rubbed her shoulder, his own smile one that dug his dimple deep into his cheek.

"As we hand out the cake," Yifan’s mother announced, her hand tightly in her mate’s, "Qian-ah can open her gifts."

It took a while to get through them all, Yixing marvelled at how blessed Qian was to have so many people that loved and adored her enough to spoil her that much on her birthday. Yifan’s hand gripped tightly at Yixing’s waist, his nervousness evident as he held a pristinely wrapped rectangular box in his hands. Yixing’s gift was placed atop of it, an equally rectangle but thicker gift.

Yifan told his mother that he wanted to wait until everyone had gone to give their gifts to Qian. The girl had whined and complained, demanding to see them there and then, but Yifan held his ground against his younger sister, not giving into her widened eyes and mollified tone.

Instead, Yifan pecked a kiss on the place on Yixing’s neck that his mark would go and grinned. Yixing was always the easiest way for Yifan to distract himself from his sister’s charms.

The party cleared out in the early evening, everyone - other than Qian - cleared up and made sure that a small supper was ready. Yixing was prepared to have toast and jam, but Yifan’s mother refused him. She boiled up a soup and served it to the five remaining people, forming an intimate party, and when Qian had gulped her bowl down, Yifan gave her his gift.

Watching her pick up the skirt, all of the embroidery hand stitched by Yifan and shimmering with each turn of the light, made Yixing’s eyes water. He couldn’t hold back tears as he watched her try it on, prancing around the room with a delighted smile and showing Yixing every part of it. The design was a beauty to see, each of the elements wrapping up together and Yixing had to will himself not to cry when he saw the small asters, zinnias and ranunculuses.

Even though they hadn’t given each other flowers since they had begun their relationship, Yixing knew they were there for him - they would be ones that wouldn’t die, they would be the ones that showed Yixing how much Yifan thought of him. He didn’t need to be _‘wooed’_ anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, so much, for reading this.


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